Chaos Descending
by DeltaShock
Summary: Ash Ketchum just won the Kanto League. He's on top of the world, one step closer to a Pokemon Master. But when Professor Oak shows him a mysterious book, Ash is forced into another new adventure, but not at all one he would've imagined. Read and review!
1. Another Journey Begins

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which are owned by Nintendo and Hasbro respectively.

I present to you my first multi-chaptered work of fanfiction, a MLP:FiM/Pokémon crossover I dub "Chaos Descending!"

_Pallet Town, Kanto_

The boy slumbered in bed, dreams of his life and goals flashing in his mind. A small smile appeared on his face as he slept. This tranquility was immediately disrupted by the entrance of a being who ceased his slumber.

"Urgh…..Mom…five more minutes…" mumbled Ash Ketchum, pulling his blankets over his head.

This was Ash Ketchum. A seventeen-year old black-haired boy, standing at 5'8, and an amazing Pokémon trainer. In Pallet Town, he was their pride and joy (along with Gary annoyingly), but not only because of his battling and abilities. He was kind, caring, cheerful….what many people wanted to see in a person, but never really did. An optimist, before even conceding that there was a negative side, he'd search long and hard for the good in a person or situation. However, as many of Ash's companions (females mostly) can tell you….he's as blind as a Zubat to affection and crushes.

In Ash's trails, paths were forged by his resolve, but he left many hearts behind unknowingly crushed or disappointed as well. Each of his female companions had had a crush on him at some point in time, but Ash had been…focused on other things he deemed 'more important' like Pokémon training and mastery. But just because some of their affections weren't returned didn't mean they hated the boy; in fact, they still adored him, just less so. Except for Misty of course, pining her days away in Cerulean. She'd eventually run into someone named Richie, who acted almost exactly like Ash. (But that's another story for another time.)

His Pokémon all loved him as well in the way that a student can idolize and adore a mentor and teacher. In some cases like Pikachu's, it's almost like they're brothers, only separated by the thin plane of species differentiation.

Anyways….let's see how Ash is doing!

He rubbed his eyes and looked at who had awoken him "What? Oh, it's just you Pikachu," Ash yawned, deeming Pikachu as a non-hostile threat.

Pikachu responded to that by sending thunderbolts at the sleeping boy, resulting in him screaming and writhing in pain. Just because his Pokémon loved him didn't mean they didn't get to have any fun, did it?

Pikachu nodded with a satisfied smirk at his handiwork, and ran off, leaving Ash blackened and smoking. Ash sighed, and went to his closet, wincing slightly as he peeled off his burnt pajamas and skimmed his closet. His mother had taken the liberty of organizing his closet while he was gone, and she'd set it up so that each outfit she'd given to him on a journey was kept together. There were his Hoenn clothes, a blue hoodie, jeans, his black gloves, backpack, and hat….Sinnoh, with his black and yellow jacket and hat…..and of course, his favorites from Kanto and Johto, a blue and white jacket, black T-shirt, his green gloves, and his hat. Oh, that hat. It was an awesome hat as Ash thought about it, with red and white, as well as the symbol on the front…those million postcards to the Pokémon League Expo were totally worth it. He looked over them, and decided on the Kanto outfit. Pulling it on, he was surprised to see how nice it felt.

"Huh, Mom must have made me new ones just like the old ones….except the hat. I really hope she didn't touch the hat…That hat's been on so many journeys. Those were the days, huh?" Ash fondly reminisced. He had loved the adventures he had with those two. Sure, he got to travel again with new friends, and sure, he got to see Brock often, but those days…it was just amazing. The thrill he felt as he rushed into the unknown world as a new-coming Pokémon Trainer, with only his wits, Pokémon, and his two best friends beside him. He supposed he dressed the way he did because he missed that feeling. Going to Hoenn and Sinnoh had been fun, and he had had some new experiences with unknown Pokémon, but to him? It would never match the same level of joy and excitement he had felt in the very beginning, charging into the void…

"What I would give just to feel the rush again…to go on another new adventure, without any guidance or help.." Ash sighed silently as he walked out of his room to the kitchen. "Fat chance that'll ever happen."

"Hey honey, breakfast is in the kitchen! I've made all your favorites, my little Kanto champion!" said Delia Ketchum, Ash's plump kind-faced mother from the kitchen as she cooked.

"Hmm…Kanto Champion. I could get used to that..." thought Ash happily.

_Flashback- One week prior_

Determined to redeem himself from his losses in Sinnoh, Ash had decided to re-challenge the Pokémon League in Kanto. He and his team challenged every single gym, and dominated them once again. Applying for the competition was easy as well, as he handed his Pokedex to Nurse Joy and was registered.

He made it past the first contenders with ease with his Pokémon obliterating the competition. Cruising past the first and second rounds, he began to run into trouble in the first round of the semi-finals, where he ran into none other than Paul; his despised enemy from Sinnoh. He and Paul threw attacks back and forth, yet neither had a clear advantage over the other. It eventually came down to each trainer's last Pokémon: for Paul, his Electivire, and for Ash, Pikachu. The two electric powerhouses squared off, neither giving an inch to the other. But, inch by inch, Pikachu wore down the bigger Pokémon and with a mighty Iron Tail sealing the deal, he stopped Paul's run cold. Pumped by the victory over one of his biggest rivals, Ash soared through the rest of the semi-finals. When it came down to him and his adversary in the final round, he walked into the field an opponent, and came out the Champion of the Kanto league. He was riding high on his excitement and enthusiasm, and it was infectious; anyone who had talked with Ash in the past week had been just as excited as he was. Even Gary.

_End Flashback- Present day_

"Wait, what am I doing here thinking about the tournament? There's food!" wondered Ash as he ran towards the kitchen and proceeded to pile a plate high with waffles, pancakes, bacon, and more.

Meanwhile, Pikachu wandered in after hearing Ash's expression of joy and grabbed a nearby bottle of ketchup, opened it, and began to drink it from the bottle. As trainer and Pokémon ate, Delia called to Ash-

"Don't forget to feed your other Pokémon Ash!"

"What? Oh yeah, I forgot…..sorry Mom!" shouted Ash back, his voice muffled by food.

"Sigh…honestly, I love the boy, but sometimes….." murmured Delia to herself as she began to eat her breakfast as well.

Ash picked up his plate and walked to his backyard. "Come on out guys!" he yelled, throwing his Pokéballs into the air.

And in a flash of bright light, out popped his team: Charizard, Wartortle, Torterra, Staraptor, Tyranitar, and of course, Pikachu. The team he had fought side by side with through the tournament, and beat the best Kanto had to offer with.

"Wow…a championship team…I still can't believe it," thought Ash, as his mind began to wander again, this time to his rediscovery of each one.

_Flashback_

Charizard was found when he went to the Charcific Valley, a few months prior to his Championship attempt, and got Charizard from Liza, where he'd, according to her, become massively powerful, but had fallen into a slump. That is, until Ash came for him. He had significantly brightened up, and was excited to see his old trainer, so much so that he greeted him in the customary way by scorching him with flames.

Needless to say, Charizard spent some time in his ball for a while.

His Squirtle was found while Ash was returning home from Sinnoh and had run into a house on fire, with a group of Squirtle and a Wartortle ferociously attacking it. He had sent out Buizel, and together they had put the fire out. Then the Wartortle, with a pair of awesomely cool sunglasses, jumped out at Ash yelling. After a few moments of noncommittal grunting and confusion on his part, Ash realized this was his Wartortle (and former Squirtle), and asked him if he wanted to come along. Naturally, Wartortle said yes, and he'd followed him back home to Pallet Town, where he'd been accepted into the team immediately.

After returning from Sinnoh, Ash had thought long and hard about his catches there. He felt that he didn't want to leave anyone out from his run at the Championship, and decided to bring Torterra and Staraptor along for the ride. Of all his Pokémon there, he'd felt closest to the two.

Tyranitar's story was by far the longest. He was found while looking for Gary after Professor Oak sent Ash to give Gary a package. While searching Mt. Silver for Gary (Gary was studying Misdreavuses, and thus found this an excellent place to observe them), Ash had accidentally run into a large, and quite angry Onix. The Onix decided that Ash looked _very_ similar to a chew toy, and rumbled after him, as Ash sprinted away while apologizing profusely and promising tasty rocks and to help him find a lady Onix. This evidently did not work as the Onix pursued Ash into a large cave.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" screamed Ash in terror as he crouched behind some rocks in a futile attempt to shield himself from the Onix. The Onix bellowed and smashed the rocks to rubble with Iron Tail, and his tail glowed white for the final blow that would squish Ash into a smear on the cave floor.

Ash braced himself and prepared for the end and squeezed his eyes shut…

When all of a sudden, a loud roar was heard from the back of the cave, followed by a blinding orange ray of light blasting the Onix to the cave walls, where it slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Oh Arceus, what was that, what was that, what was-?"

For it was none other than a Tyranitar, staring at Ash with a quizzical expression on its face. But something about this Tyranitar seemed….familiar to Ash.

"Huh…hey! Would you happen to have a Larvitar child Tyranitar?" asked Ash obliviously.

The Tyranitar facepalmed, and pointed to Ash, then himself.

"Oh! Do you want to come along and help me find him? I bet with the two of us, we can find that Larvitar no problem!"

"Tyranitar, what are you….why are you using Harden so much?" asked a befuddled Ash. "Huh, my old Larvitar used to use Harden a lot too….weird. Wait! I bet _you're _my old Larvitar!" said Ash, excited with his discovery. Tyranitar pointed at himself once again. "Oops, I meant 'Tyranitar'," responded Ash sheepishly. "Well Larvi- I mean Tyranitar, do you wanna come along with me and take on the Kanto League?" asked Ash. Tyranitar eagerly responded with a resounding "TYRANITAR!" and they then both set off.

_End Flashback_

The Pokémon assembled quickly in battle formation, but after realizing there was no battle to be had, but only delicious food, they just as quickly assembled to their food stations. Delia chuckled at her son's Pokémon's behavior. "Like trainer like Pokémon…"

After the team had eaten their fill (Ash and Charizard had gotten into an eating competition, and had to be forced from the table by their teammates, protesting all the way), Ash immediately set pairs for each Pokémon to spar with.

"Ok, so Charizard and Tyranitar, Wartortle and Staraptor, and Pikachu and Torterra. Charizard, I want you to practice your agility by dodging whatever Tyranitar throws at you. Tyranitar, don't hesitate to throw anything. Wartortle and Staraptor, you two practice speed and accuracy. Staraptor, you're going to fly and attack Wartortle, while he tries to knock you out with some long-ranged firepow-..er..water-power I suppose. And Pikachu and Torterra, you two can just practice endurance. Okay everybody, let's go!" yelled Ash, clapping his hands.

As the respective Pokémon stared each other down and began their sparring, Ash got down and began doing push-ups. After all, what kind of trainer would he be if he didn't train along with his Pokémon? He didn't like saying it out loud, but he knew he was pretty fit and muscular. He had done about 30 when he felt his Pokedex vibrate. Glancing at it, he saw it was a call from Professor Oak. He flipped it open and said-

"Hey Professor, how are you?"

"I'm fine Ash, but not to be rude, but I really need you to get up here to my lab immediately!" said Professor Oak, sounding rushed.

"Okay Professor, but what's wrong?" asked Ash perplexedly.

"No time, no time, just hurry! And bring your Pokémon with you, just in case!"

"Just in case of wha-"

But Oak had already hung up. Frustrated, Ash turned shut his Pokédex and yelled "Guys, we gotta pack it up, Professor Oak wants us to talk with- What happened?"

Charizard was sitting on the shoulders of an enraged Tyranitar, who would reach up to try to pull him off, only to have Charizard fly up and drag him backwards until he fell over, laughing all the while. Then the whole process would begin again with Tyranitar's temper steadily growing. Wartortle and Staraptor were leaning against each other, one with numerous small cuts and the other dripping wet, And Pikachu was snoozing on Torterra's back, while Torterra basked in the sun, both at peace.

Ash's eye began twitching.

The Pokémon saw this and hastened to their trainer. Well, Wartortle and Staraptor did. Tyranitar took the advantage of Charizard being distracted by their trainer to reach up and pull him off, then ground his face into the ground and made him eat dirt. Pikachu was still sleepy and was slow to react, and Torterra moved with the speed of a continental divide. So Ash manually returned them with the exception of Pikachu and Tyranitar, to whom he gave a stern lecture. After Tyranitar gave him an annoyed look, he promised to give a lecture to Charizard too, and returned him.

"Sigh….okay then, let's see what the professor wants from us," said Ash, placing Pikachu on his shoulder and heading out the door.

_A few minutes later_

Ash sprinted over to the lab, wanting to find out what was so urgent that required training to be ceased. Stopping at the front door, he knocked on it and waited. After a minute passed without answer, Ash yelled-

"Professor Oak? Professor? It's me, Ash!"

"Oh, do come in, I have to show you something!" said the professor, almost giddy with excitement. Ash looked surprised; he had only seen the professor that excited when he talked about his excursions with Legendary Pokémon.

Professor Oak was the resident professor of Pallet Town, and the main professor of Kanto, like how Rowan is Sinnoh's professor, and Birch with Hoenn. An average gray-haired old man, he'd been through 60 years of his life, devoting most of it to his love of learning about Pokémon and obtaining knowledge. He was a well-respected professor, and was often consulted by other scientists as well as fellow professors. Oddly enough though, he was a famous poet, which Ash found quite odd, since his poetry didn't rhyme a lot. And wasn't that the whole point of poetry?

"Come here Ash!" said the professor, and Ash realized that he had zoned out, and hurried to the professor's side.

"What's up Professor Oak?"

"I think I may have just found another type of Legendary Pokémon!" squealed Professor Oak excitedly, showing Ash a picture of the "Legendary". "It doesn't seem to match up with any history or mythological books I've read so far! Well, except this one, but the title's been faded quite badly."

Putting aside his disturbance about the professor squealing, Ash looked at the picture. It seemed to be similar in shape to a Ponyta, but midnight blue and with…was that armor? Along with a horn and wings too, this shaped up to be a strange Pokémon (if it even was one) indeed. Nevertheless, Ash congratulated him. "That's great professor! What's it called?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I think it goes along the lines of 'Nightmare' from what I've gleaned from the little information I've gotten from this book," sighed Oak. "I found this book in my basement behind all my equipment for studying Bug-type anatomy! It's disappointing that it's not a complete copy though."

"Well, you've discovered a new Pokémon! That alone is an awesome accomplishment. Too bad you don't know much about it…huh, what's this say?" asked Ash, who had been flicking through the book, and pointed at a page.

"Where?" said a perplexed Oak, peering over his shoulder, "It seems to be blank there. Or quite faded, it's difficult to tell in my old age.."

"No, Professor, there's definitely something there." said Ash insistently.

"Okay then, I'll go get my reading glasses, and we'll look at it," said Oak as he left the room.

"He can't see it? It's right in front of him! Old man must be going blind," thought Ash as he read the lines. "Hmm….I should write it down for him! Let's see..." He groped for a piece of paper and pencil, and began to read the lines, writing them down as he spoke.

"_Thirteen heroes, two worlds apart,_

_Will save the world from eternal dark._

_To defeat the evil which roams the land,_

_With power as immeasurable as grains of sand._

_Two shall rise above the rest,_

_In power and spirit they will unite._

_But with that power shall come a test,_

_As one they must overcome the fight._

_But together, the thirteen must work well,_

_Lest they be destroyed, casting both worlds into hell._

_The heroes are the last hope, or it may be too late,_

_To save Kanto or Equestria, sealing everyone's fate._

At the moment he finished writing the line and stuck the paper into his pocket, the book began shuddering violently, and fell from Ash's hands. "What the-" gasped Ash, as the book fell onto the floor, pages flapping wildly.

Ash was then enveloped in a bright light, flashing from the book and burning his eyes. In pain, he tried to look away, but saw darkness at the corners of his vision.

"I'm not feeling too good…." Ash thought woozily. "Ouch….."

He gave in to the succumbing pain, and fell unconscious to the floor with a soft thump.


	2. Arrival of Change

"Urgh…what happened?" groaned Ash, lying on the ground in front of a large expanse of woods. "What…? Did I land in Hoenn or something? Is this Petalburg Forest…or maybe Viridian Forest….? Ow…..the ground hurts…. A lot….ouch."

He stretched out his legs and winced.

"I should get up now, shouldn't I….but….argh! …..forget it, LET'S DO THIS!" bellowed Ash, leaping up off the ground and landing on all four legs.

"HA! Take that ground! You may be able to hurt me, but I'll always land on my four feet ….four…Oh Arceus, what is this?"

For Ash, the lovable, dense, kind-hearted trainer, had become…what he considered a Ponyta colt. A brown-furred, average height, black maned colt. Well, at least from what he could discern. He couldn't really see anything by turning around except for his back, mane, and tail.

"Whoa, I have a tail! This is so cool! Maybe I can be like those Ponyta on TV and whip flies and mosquitoes with it!" Ash attempted to flick his tail, only to watch his tail pathetically flail and accomplish nothing. "Wait, is my mane on fire too?" He glanced at the mane hanging off his head in his face, and saw only mane, no fire. "Aww man. Maybe Pikachu or Charizard can help me with the tail thing later. Wait, where are those two? And everyone else for that matter?"

Ash frantically searched around him in the surrounding bushes and trees, but could find no sign of his beloved Pokémon friends. That is, until he heard a familiar battle cry and a feminine squeal of pain and surprise from the woods behind him.

"PIKACHU! I'M COMING BUDDY, HOLD ON!" yelled Ash, rapidly dashing towards the squeals and cries. He ran into the woods full tilt, nearly tripping multiple times over tree roots and rocks, stumbling through brush and tree branches, until _finally_, he ran into Pikachu.

And another Ponyta, only this one fainted and slightly quivering. But this one was yellow, with a pink mane and a strange symbol on their flank. Looked like a bunch of Butterfree to Ash.

"Huh, a yellow and pink Ponyta….Must be a Shiny Pokémon! But Professor Oak never mentioned anything about yellow and pink being a Shiny color change…and what's a Ponyta doing all the way here in Hoenn? Well, that means two things!" wondered Ash. "One, I'm most likely not in Hoenn or Kanto…and two, it must belong to a trainer! Now, whose trainer is it though…."

Pikachu happily bounded to his trainer after defeating the strange other Pokémon, only for Ash to ignore him completely. Pikachu made a noise to get his attention, but it was no use as Ash continued in his thinking.

"….maybe they dropped their Pokeball and it got released by accident?.. or maybe…"

"Pika!"

"…..they could've released it…but why release a Shiny? Those are rare…"

"PIKA!"

"AHH!" screamed Ash, as electricity coursed through him. "Oh….sorry…..Pikachu…"panted Ash. "I….forgot….that you were….there.."

Pikachu nodded triumphantly, before realizing there was something…off about his trainer. He poked Ash with a questioning look in his face.

"Oh, this?" responded Ash, having recovered. "I'm not exactly sure. Maybe this is an island where only Ponyta live and you have to be a Ponyta to be here!"

Pikachu facepalmed and pointed at himself.

"Oh yeah, you're still you. That kinda blows a hole in that idea," muttered Ash sheepishly, turning away. He turned back to Pikachu with another question. "Hey Pikachu! Do you know where any of the others are?"

Pikachu ran towards a nearby bush and pulled out Ash's belt with all 6 Pokéballs intact.

"Phew! Can't imagine what would've happened if Charizard was let out here…..I can already imagine all the grass type Pokémon here wailing….and the burning smell….and…well let's just stop there, huh Pikachu?" said Ash.

Pikachu solemnly agreed, also imagining a roasted Shroomish or Caterpie and shuddering slightly.

"Ok well come on out guys!" yelled Ash, throwing his hooves in the air, throwing…..nothing into the air.

"Wait, I don't have hands…...and that means I can't open my Pokéballs! Oh no!" moaned Ash, not noticing Pikachu walking up to the balls.

Pikachu leaned forward and touched each of the Pokéballs, releasing their inhabitants. And then his jaw promptly fell to the floor in shock.

"Arceus, why?" wailed Ash, his forelegs raised dramatically in the air towards the sky. "What have I done to deserve this punishment?"

Pikachu with his mouth still half-open began headbutting Ash.

"Why?" whined Ash still, ignoring Pikachu's continuous headbutts to his side. Well, until he got headbutted with a Quick Attack.

As Ash walked back from his brief stint as a Flying Pokémon, he turned to Pikachu and angrily said, "What Pikachu! Can't you notice I'm grieving the loss of hands and opposable thumbs! I can't open Pokéballs _or_ eat sandwiches now! Why don't you leave me alone, and go play with that Charmander or Squirtle or Larvitar or something!" Ash snapped. He then did a double take. "Wait, what?"

For in front of Ash, was a Charmander, Squirtle, Larvitar, Starly, and Turtwig.

"Um….do I know you guys?" asked Ash, surprised at their sudden appearance.

His mane catching on fire and Turtwig latching onto his head answered that question fairly quickly.

"What happened to you guys? I mean, you're not a Ponyta like me, but you're not the same either…I mean, except for Pikachu, you've all gone back to your first stage of evolution." said Ash rather unnecessarily, after running and screaming into a nearby river to dunk his head in.

The Charmander sullenly agreed, with the others nodding in morose acknowledgement.

Pushing the button on the Pokéballs to return Turtwig, Larvitar, Squirtle, and Starly, Ash nosed each ball back into his belt and said, "Well, I guess it's time to go out of this forest and find Professor Oak or Birch and figure out what is going on here. Come on." He dipped his head and got the belt over his neck, and slung it over his shoulder like a sling.

He then prepared to return Charmander when…

"A BABY DRAGON!" screamed a voice in delight from behind Ash.

"Whoa!" yelped Ash, spinning on the spot to find the fainted Ponyta from before adoringly hugging and nuzzling an increasingly annoyed Charmander.

Now, let's get this straight. Charmander did not enjoy being nuzzled. He did not enjoy being thought of as cute, or adorable, or lovable Unless it was by Charla his mate, of course, because for some reason, she refuses to call him drop-dead gorgeous.

"Females are weird and mysterious," thought Charmander. "Definitely weird though….definitely."

However, he was not in the mood for cuddling. First, he went from being a powerhouse to pint-sized, and now he was getting nuzzled and adored by another Pokémon (or so he thought). No way! He prepared to charge up one of his most powerful attacks and unleashed an Overheat on the weird Ponyta. It would never see it coming.

"Charmander, NO!" yelled Ash, knowing how Charizard charged up his attacks and knew this would be dangerous.

The shiny Ponyta then coughed slightly as some smoke flowed out of the open Charmander's mouth and got in its face.

Charmander stood, dumfounded with his failure at an attack and the Ponyta continuing as if nothing had happened. As if he wasn't a force to be reckoned with!

Ash and Pikachu looked at him, and promptly began rolling on the ground, laughing at his predicament.

"Haha Charizard! Not so tough now huh, as a little baby dragon," laughed Ash, tears streaming from his eyes.

Charmander grumbled. It didn't take the smartest person in the world to recognize Charmander's threat to Ash's life later. Well as soon as he evolved….again….and again..

After a few moments of laughing at Charmander's expense, Ash went up to the strange Ponyta and nudged it in the shoulder with a hoof.

"Ahh!" screamed the Ponyta, falling backwards and releasing Charmander while simultaneously squeezing its eyes shut with its four legs sticking up in the air.

Surprised (and begrudgingly impressed with the Ponyta's reflexes), Ash muttered,"…What?"

He then decided to take the more direct approach and nudged the Ponyta multiple times until its eyes opened again. He looked into its eyes, and it looked back into his.

He looked into the wide blue eyes of the Ponyta, and saw fear behind them. Not wanting to scare it away, he tried to show how he wasn't going to hurt it. "Just like with Charmander and Damien, all those years ago," thought Ash. The Ponyta eventually relented and stood up, not so afraid, but not so accepting either.

"Hi, my name's Ash Ketchum!" greeted the boy trainer/colt, trying to show he didn't want to hurt it and extended a hoof with an attempt to establish a friendship. Or something.

He wasn't sure if he would be able to speak with the Ponyta, but since he was one (or something similar to it) the rules would change and he'd be able to.

"erm…..My name's Fluttershy," mumbled the yellow and pink pony almost imperceptibly.

"_Cool, I can speak with it! Awesome!" _thought Ash gleefully. He responded-

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you, could you say that again please?"

"My name's…um…. Fluttershy," mumbled the Ponyta again, even quieter than before while nervously sliding her hoof back and forth, hiding her wide blue eyes behind her mane. At least, from what Ash could hear, it was a her. He didn't even know anything could speak that quietly before.

"Okay …Fluttershy…? Hello! The Pokémon you were hugging before was my Charizard. Well, _was_my Charizard. Now he's a Charmander, as well as all my other Pokémon. Well they're not all Charmanders, but…well it's a long story."

"What's a Pokémon?" asked Fluttershy again, almost indiscernibly.

"What's a Pokémon? What? I mean, how do you not know, you're one of them!" spluttered Ash disbelievingly. He also took note of his amazing hearing now that he was a Ponyta to be able to still hear her. "I mean, although you are a Shiny, you _are_ a Pokémon, so how do you not know?"

"I'm a pony…" mumbled Fluttershy.

"Yeah, I know you're a Ponyta, but I'm still trying to get over the fact that you don't know what a Pokémon is!" said Ash, throwing his hooves up in the air for emphasis, and then falling flat on his face. As Ash pulled himself up from the ground, trying to save some of his dignity, he accidentally leaned forward and hit Fluttershy with his outstretched hoof. From what he'd learned so far, her reaction to screaming and jumping 5 feet in the air somehow was not unexpected. What was unexpected however was Fluttershy colliding with him on the way down, causing him to fall again and hit his belt where his Pokéballs were. As he fell, the other four Pokémon he had were released.

Hearing their cries of their names, Ash fully expected the Ponyta to run away again. He however did not expect her to squeal excitedly. "MORE? Ohmygoshtheyareallsocute!'-" squealed Fluttershy excitedly until Ash cut her off.

"Wait Fluttershy, so you seriously don't know what a Pokémon is? Fluttershy, please, I'm asking you a question!" said Ash exasperatedly as Fluttershy ran up to Turtwig and Squirtle and began cuddling them while putting Starly on her back. Understandably, Larvitar stood far away from the proceedings.

"Oh I'm so sorry Ash…Ash is it? But these…Pokémon as you call it…are SOO cute!" gushed Fluttershy. "They're cuter than those parasprites, and they don't look like they'll eat our whole town either!"

"Seems animals bring out the best in Fluttershy," thought Ash. "Makes her more….sociable. At least as sociable as one like her could be. Not very much, I'm thinking."

"Er..Fluttershy, can I ask you a question again?" inquired Ash. "Actually, can I ask you two?"

"Sure!" said Fluttershy, trying and unsuccessfully attempting to pull Larvitar into a hug. With a sigh, she moved back towards an increasingly panicked Squirtle and cuddled him harder.

"Okay, first, what's a parasprite?"

"Oh! Those were these cute little bugs that I found one day, and I brought them to Twilight's house, where she and the others all loved them. Then the other ponies in town all saw them and wanted one, but they turned out to be _really really _good eaters and almost ate the whole town before Pinkie Pie drove them off!" recited Fluttershy.

"Huh…Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy….these Pokémon have weird names…" He remembered Fluttershy denying she was a Pokémon. "Well, whatever she is, although she may be scaring my Pokémon out of their wits, she's talking. Maybe I can find out what happened to me," thought Ash. "Well, you don't know what a Pokémon is, right?" he asked.

Fluttershy shook her head.

"And you're not a Ponyta...are you?"

"By Ponyta, do you mean pony? Because I'm a pony…well a Pegasus pony actually...which means that I can fly and have wings. But I like staying on the ground much more, with all my animal friends, like Angel Bunny and the birds and squirrels and snakes and…oops, I got carried away ," responded Fluttershy sheepishly. "What's a Ponyta?"

"Huh, without the horn and if she was bigger, she would be just like that thing I saw in the Professor's book," observed Ash keenly. He remembered Fluttershy's question. "Well, back where I'm from, a Ponyta is like you, but without the wings and bigger. It also had a fiery mane and was really fast," said Ash.

"Wow, those sound scary," whimpered Fluttershy slightly.

"They're nice Pokémon, I wouldn't worry about them hurting you," responded Ash calmingly. "So are there only Pegasus ponies here?"

"Oh heavens no! There are earth ponies, and unicorns, and other animals in the forest, and my friend Twilight Sparkle has another dragon that lives with her!" said Fluttershy. "Do…do you wanna come meet her? She might be able to help you better than I can…" she asked timidly.

"I'd love to meet your friend as well," responded Ash, eager to learn what exactly was going on here. "But one more question. Where exactly am I?"

"Oh, you're in the Everfree Forest in Equestria….the land of ponies ruled by the Sun Princess Celestia and the Moon Princess Luna!" responded Fluttershy somewhat brightly. "Now then," she said, hoisting a resentful Squirtle onto her back, "Let's go! I mean, if it's okay with you, I guess…"

"Equestria, huh? A whole country inhabited by these….ponies?" thought Ash. "Well….I guess another adventure is at hand."

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and turned to Fluttershy, yelling "Onward Fluttershy! Let us be off into the new land of Equestria!"

He returned the rest of his Pokémon, and as Pikachu leapt onto his back, the duo charged out of the forest. It wasn't long though before Ash noticed Fluttershy was lying on the forest floor back where he'd started. Sighing, he trotted back to her and nudged her back to consciousness. She opened her eyes to see his face directly in front of hers. She gave out an 'eep!' and leapt up, wings spread and ready to fly away before Ash called out to her and she realized who it was.

"Sorry Ash, you startled me..." said the pony abashedly.

"Nah, it's cool. So, this time when I yell, can we charge out of the forest dramatically again?"

"Wha-"

"ONWARD FLUTTERSHY!" bellowed Ash as he ran ahead, Pikachu barely clinging to his shoulder.

"Ash! Wait up!" shrieked Fluttershy as she frantically flew after the boy trainer-turned-colt pulling farther away.

And on that enthusiastic note, Ash Ketchum, his faithful Pokémon team, and his newfound friend Fluttershy ran out of the Everfree Forest into the bright sunlight of a completely new world.


	3. Out of the Forest

Ash walked out of the forest, with his head held high and taking long, commanding strides. He had the natural look of a leader, a man (or pony) on a mission.

With his faithful Pokémon, and his newfound ally Fluttershy, he would soon discover his true purpose here, and fulfill his destiny!

Eventually at least.

Now, Ash had decided to be the gentlemanly type and offered to find the way to wherever Fluttershy lived. "Near somewhere called Ponyville I think. At least from what I could hear," thought Ash as he wandered along the road. Despite Fluttershy's near-silent protests, Ash began walking from the forest on the hard-packed dirt road on what he imagined would be a long walk.

And so, due to Ash's _brilliant _navigation skills, they've crossed the same intersection of road about four times in the past half an hour.

"Erm….Ash?" Fluttershy timidly asked.

"Huh?" responded Ash, staring at a map he apparently just drew with Pikachu out of….something. Pikachu was pointing at one part of the map, while Ash shook his head condescendingly and pointed to a different part. The two then glared at each other, sparks flying from their eyes (almost literally in Pikachu's case), when Fluttershy yelled "WAIT!"

Both Ash's and Pikachu's eyes widened; it was the first time they'd heard their new pink and yellow friend speak loudly…_ever_.

"er…yes Fluttershy?" asked Ash nervously, not sure about this new loud Fluttershy. To be frank, it scared him slightly.

"Well…you see….my house….is right back there," said Fluttershy quietly, pointing her hoof at a nice quaint little cottage on the side of the road. Ash recognized it almost instantly, having passed it already. Multiple times.

"Oh…how long has that been there?" asked Ash sheepishly. "Also, why didn't you say anything? You knew I was listening."

"Well actually I was trying to tell you when we left the Everfree Forest…that's the forest back there….but I think I was being too quiet. I'm sorry…"

Ash mentally facepalmed (or facehoofed? Since he was now a pony, he didn't know) at his ignorance, realizing him and Pikachu had been having an argument on where to go ever since they left. "I'm sorry Fluttershy, this is my fault, and I wasn't listening for you to say anything. If anything, this isn't even slightly your fault." Ash placated.

"Okay…"

Thus an awkward silence fell upon the duo, marred only by the occasional bird chirping or squeak from Fluttershy.

"….well should we be off then?" asked Ash hesitantly.

"Um…yes, let's" replied Fluttershy, almost undetectably.

The duo turned around and began walking towards the newly discovered cottage, Pikachu and Squirtle wandering alongside, conversing amiably.

"So…Ash…what's it like being a Pokémon Trainer?" asked Fluttershy suddenly.

Ash was jolted out of his thoughts of food when he heard her speak. "What?"

"Oh…I just asked what it was like being a P

It's the greatest thing ever! I've made lots of friends, and caught a lot of Pokémon, and-"

"Wait, _caught_? As in capture? And keep?"

"Well Fluttershy, when you capture a Pokémon, you don't just make it fight. You train it, and become friends with it. That's how I became friends with Squirtle, and Larvitar, and all the other Pokémon you've seen. Well, where I'm from, they're bigger, and have different names, but they're the same Pokémon inside."

"Wait, I'm still not sure…you said capture?"

"Yes, Fluttershy, capture. I throw a Pokeball-" he said, lifting up a ball- "And throw it at a weakened Pokémon I've battled."

"Oh, do these Pokémon like being captured though? I don't think it's fair if they don't want to be captured."

"In my personal experience, the Pokémon often chooses if they want to come with you, and you agree or not. But as a trainer, I don't like keeping a Pokémon who didn't want to be captured in the first place, and I bet a lot of people agree with me about that. Except maybe Paul…" he muttered at the end.

"Are there a lot of these Pokémon?"

"Oh yes! Well, let's see, I'd guess about….say 500 of them, give or take a few. And that's counting the Legendary Pokémon, like Arceus, and Giratina, and Ho Oh, and Lugia, and- er, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy had fallen over as soon as she had heard 500, overcome with sheer excitement.

"There are that many of them? Oh my, I can make lots of animal friends! Yay!" squealed Fluttershy, clapping her hooves together in a way that Ash thought was awesome. (I mean seriously, pony clapping is awesome clapping).

"Uh, Fluttershy?"

"And we can stay up all night, and have snacks-"

"Fluttershy?"

"- and play games with each other and-"

"FLUTTERSHY!"

"Eeep! Oh I'm sorry Ash, I must have gotten carried away again," said Fluttershy apologetically.

"It's okay Fluttershy…..hey, have you seen Squirtle or Pikachu and the rest?" asked Ash.

"Oh, they ran towards my house just a few moments ago! They seemed so excited and playful; they'll get along great with my other animal friends!"

"Other animal friends….." Ash mumbled as he remembered what Pokémon he had. "Oh boy, this won't end well."

_Meanwhile, inside the house_

Ash ran into the door, knocking furiously and finding out it was locked.

"No way," said Ash. "PIKACHU! Open this door now! Open it, or by Arceus I swear I'll break it open for you!"

No response from Pikachu.

"You were warned!" yelled Ash as he broke into a gallop and leapt towards the door.

"Uh…Ash?" squeaked Fluttershy, but it was too late as Ash tumbled through the shattered remains of the door.

"Huh, they didn't even mess anything up." He looked at the door. "Well, besides that. Hey Fluttershy, where's your animal friends?"

"Uh Ash, my house is the one next door….the on with lightning bursting from the roof….and water flooding from the door…and the _really_ loud screeches coming from it…..and " said Fluttershy quietly. It almost sounded like she was standing somewhere far away. Very, very far away.

"So you mean….this isn't your house..?" A small squeak was all he got in response.

"Oops….Oh no…"

_Meanwhile, in Fluttershy's real house_

"PIKACHU! Just because you see ketchup, doesn't mean you can just go for it! You have to ask! And if they refuse, you can't just go attacking them!" berated Ash to Pikachu standing over a smoky white Buneary (or bunny as Fluttershy called it) which occasionally twitched and rolled. "Squirtle! Just because you see Pikachu doing it doesn't mean its right! And not everything that has smoke is a fire! And Larvitar, please just be quiet! Why can't you guys be like Turtwig there, being the peacemaker and just talk with the other animals…or Pokémon…whatever, just don't destroy anything? Please?"

The three main troublemakers said their names in apology, looking down at the ground in shame.

Turtwig agreed, looking sternly at the group. Well, however sternly a turtle could look at a Pokémon.

"Thank you. Starly! It's okay to come down now!" yelled Ash to the sky. "I need you for something!"

Starly descended from the clouds and perched itself on Ash's shoulder, while Pikachu huffed.

"Hey Starly, help me find Fluttershy, okay? I think she was really scared from the attacks going on in here." Starly nodded agreement, and took off again. "And you three I expect to have cleaned up this house by the time I get back, okay? Turtwig, watch them for me, 'kay? And- hey wait, where's Charmander?" asked Ash. The four Pokémon shrugged. "Oh no! Starly, let's hurry!"

And at full gallop, Ash raced out of the ruined house with his bird overhead, searching for a pink and yellow pony and possibly some burning animals….

"Fluttershy? Charmander?" yelled Ash to no avail. "Starly, you see anything?"

"Starly!" exclaimed the bird, before dashing off towards the town Fluttershy had pointed out earlier.

"Wait, I forgot what town that was? What wa-"

Ash abruptly stopped in midair and fell to the ground due to the sign that was in his way.

Welcome to Ponyville!

Where the ponies are nice and friendly! **20% cooler!**

Starly stopped and turned back towards her master, with a surprised and amused look in her face.

"Meet you there Starly, let's go!"

Dashing towards the city at breakneck pace, following Starly as it zoomed through the clouds, Ash had almost reached the outskirts of the small town when he heard singing coming from the bushes nearby. And not just any singing, but the most beautiful singing he'd ever heard. Soft and melodious, it reminded him of lullabies his mother sang to him before he had grown, before he'd left home to become a Pokémon Master. Following the voice, he came upon a scene he wouldn't have ever imagined; Fluttershy was sitting upright against a rock, her eyes closed, cradling a sleeping Charmander in her forelegs, singing softly to the young dragon as puffs of smoke appeared at each soft snore.

"Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now it's time to go to bed…"

Ash would've normally asked Fluttershy to move and continue on back to her house, but after hearing her sing…..he just didn't have the nerve. Her voice was like angels to Ash, making him feel as though he wanted to just curl up and sleep to her song. So engrossed in his thoughts about her singing, he didn't notice her finish, lay Charmander gently on her back, and begin to walk away, back towards her house.

"Wait! Fluttershy!" yelled Ash, tumbling through the brush and leaves.

"OH!" squealed Fluttershy, almost fainting before recognizing Ash's voice. "Oh, hello Ash! I didn't know you were there! I'm sorry for putting your baby dragon to sleep, but he seemed to be so scared after you ran to help the others, I don't think he knew where you went! So he ran to me, with tears in his eyes, and I did the only thing I could do. I'm sorry Ash…"

Ash waved his hoof, saying "Why would you be sorry for that? You calmed down one of my most powerful, well in the future at least, and I hate to say this, but more temperamental Pokémon by singing." He ruffled Charmander's head with his hoof, and was rewarded by a sigh of contentment. "If anything, I should be saying sorry for the actions of my Pokémon! Speaking of which, I should go check on them? You up for going back? You can stay if you want to."

"Oh heavens no, I want to check if all my animal friends are okay!" said Fluttershy.

So the duo, with Charmander snoozing on Fluttershy's back, and Starly roaming the sky above, walked back to the cottage, where a…sparkling clean perfectly built _intact_ structure stood?

"Whoa….no way that they could have done this…..I was gone for only about 10 minutes," said Ash, dumfounded.

Fluttershy wore the same countenance as Ash, but spoke nothing. Ash lightly walked up to the doorway, and knocked on the door. He was soon answered by Squirtle standing on Larvitar, and politely ushered in, along with Fluttershy and Charmander, with Starly flying in through an open window.

The cottage was bustling with action. Pikachu and Turtwig were walking around and working, and directing some of the other animals to work with them. Turtwig was carrying a bunny on his back, and together the two were cleaning, with Turtwig cleaning low and the bunny cleaning above. Pikachu was also directing, when he saw Ash and ran over to him, and pointed at the room, as to say "Well, what do you think?"

"I think you've done excellently, Pikachu."

"You know what he said?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well, not exactly, but me and Pikachu over here have been together for so long, that he and I know each other very well and can communicate on a higher-than-basic level. Kinda like what you do with all the animals here, Fluttershy."

"Thanks…"said Fluttershy, blushing slightly. "Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Well, as dense as some people like Misty think I am," replied Ash, "I saw how the animals came to you and I saw how much they adored you, and how you in turn did the same. It's not possible to show that much affection without being able to communicate on a deeper level."

"Ah, good point…" murmured Fluttershy.

The Pokémon then decided they were tired, which Ash fully expected, since they seemed to have all worked ridiculously hard in the past ten minutes. Ash returned each one to their Pokéballs, including the sleeping Charmander, all except for Pikachu.

"Well, should we go to Ponyville now? I'm really kinda worried about what my mom would think if I never came back again, and your friend Twilight may have the answer."

"It's dark out," mumbled Fluttershy even quieter than before. "But if you want to go.."

"Ah." said Ash, understanding Fluttershy's fears at once. "We'll leave tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay..." came a squeak. "You can stay here if you like; I have a guest room upstairs."

"Thanks Fluttershy, me and Pikachu here will head up there now."

Suddenly, Fluttershy hugged Ash and buried her face in his mane, murmuring, "Good night Ash."

And with that, she walked to her room with her face furiously red, leaving a blushing and wide-eyed Ash as well as a snickering Pikachu in her wake.


	4. Enter Ponyville Part I

"No….Mom, five more minutes…..yes I want pancakes..." muttered Ash as he turned on his stomach in his sleep the next morning.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" said a voice. Ash's mom, perhaps?

Ash grunted as he sat up, finding it a little difficult, and rubbing his eyes with his two front hooves.

Wait, hooves?

Ash did a double-take, first staring at his hooves, then at his body, then back at his hooves.

"Huh, so this wasn't a strange dream…I actually am a pony in a land without Pokémon….whoa," murmured Ash. "Even I'm still finding that hard to believe…and I'm right here! And if that voice wasn't my mom, then it must've been…"

But before he could finish his sentence, a yellow and pink pony walked back into the room, with a plate of pancakes and a grinning Pikachu on her back. Pikachu had managed to nab a bottle of ketchup, and was happily chugging the thing down like there was no tomorrow. Fluttershy walked to Ash and set the plate in front of him as he stared in confusion.

"How'd you know I wanted pancakes?" asked a confused Ash.

"Oh that was easy! I already made breakfast for the animals here, and some are particular to pancakes. Your friend Pikachu here kept pointing at the pancakes and your room, so I guess he knew you liked pancakes. Also," continued Fluttershy with a slight blush. "I heard you talking in your sleep about pancakes, and how tasty they are, so I thought they'd be perfect. Do you like them?"

Ash picked up one of the pancakes with his mouth and inspected it. Deeming it worthy, he tossed it into his mouth and began chewing. His eyes grew wide as he ate, surprised at the taste.

"Do I ever! I love these things! I mean, normally, the pancakes I eat are good, but some are too doughy, or buttery, etc, but these…these are brilliant!" praised Ash as he eagerly dug through the pancakes. "I mean –"

But alas, the end of his sentence was lost due to the fact he had attempted to inhale about half a pancake which ended unsuccessfully and had lodged itself in his throat, resulting in his imminent choking and hacking.

"Oh no, Ash!" shrieked Fluttershy as she ran to him, wrapped her hooves around his waist, and began rapidly pulling her arms in an effort to force the food to remove itself. And with a final heave, the pancake flew from his mouth and out an open window.

"Phew…that…..wasn't pleasant…." wheezed Ash slightly.

"That wasn't one of my favorite things to do either," agreed Fluttershy, falling back onto her four hooves.

Pikachu meanwhile, had been simply drinking ketchup, too engrossed to really care.

…..

After Ash had recovered, he waited while Fluttershy ate. And as Ash, he _hated _waiting. Yet he stayed silent, out of politeness.

However, this didn't stop him from cheering when Fluttershy finished.

"Huh?" wondered a surprised Fluttershy, staring at the cheering brown colt who was running around in excitement. "Wonder what he's so happy about?"

As Fluttershy walked to the kitchen with her plate and placed it into the sink, Ash eagerly asked, "So, Fluttershy, we off to Ponyville now?"

"Yes Ash, we are going now. My, you're very excited, huh?"

"I'm always excited when I get to go to a new place! I mean, there are new people, new experiences, and new robots attacking from Team Roc-" His eyes narrowed.

He motioned Fluttershy to come near him. She looked confused, but walked anyways. Ash leaned towards her and whispered, "Have you seen any giant robots or a suspicious looking trio around here recently?" while stealing glances left and right.

"What? No! Should I be worrying about a giant robot? Oh, what do I do, what do I do?" squealed Fluttershy, going into a miniature panic attack.

"Oh its fine, the gang and I can handle that. It's just that wherever I went, there was always an annoying trio called Team Rocket after me. They were _obsessed _with Pikachu, and always tried to catch him."

"He's that powerful?" asked Fluttershy curiously, ruffling Pikachu's head and earning a sigh of contentment.

"Totally. Barely after I got him, to protect me, he basically took down a whole flock of Spearow who were angry at me! And to think, I might have never gotten him…" reminisced Ash.

"Spearow? What do you mean? I thought you found and chose him?"

"Well, a Spearow's a kind of Bird Pokémon…so it's a bird. It looks different though…wish I had my Pokedex with me. And me choosing him? Nah, that didn't happen. You see, it was a long time ago when I was 10….about 3 years ago in fact. You see, when a child becomes 10 where I'm from, they get to choose a Pokémon to be their partner. Not everyone has to be a Pokémon trainer though. Some kids just don't want to have Pokémon, and just go into things like business, working in museums, and a whole lot of other jobs. In fact, there's a whole family where every girl is a nurse! Well, the night before, I had been up all night, too excited for my Pokémon the next day. I wasn't even sure which one I wanted that day. It could've been a Charmander like the one you saw here….a Squirtle who is here as well or a Bulbasaur-"

"What's a Bulbasaur?"

"It's a Pokémon, similar to a Squirtle standing on all four legs. However, instead of a shell, it has a bulb, like a flower, and Bulbasaur's body is green with the occasional spots. Oh, and it's a little bigger than Squirtle here," said Ash, patting the ball containing the aforementioned Pokémon fondly.

"Oh. Well, could you continue your story? I mean, if you don't mind, it's okay if you don't want to..."

"Oh it's no problem at all! Anything for a friend!" remarked Ash cheerfully. "Well, continuing my story. Well, I fell asleep pretty late that night, and as a result ended up waking up really late. Like, very late. So I rushed over to Professor Oak's lab (He's the Pokémon professor, and an expert. He's also a poet, but I never got it) and asked for a Pokémon. Unfortunately, he didn't have any of the three starters I wanted. I was almost crushed- my dream of becoming a Pokémon Master was dying before it could even begin! But then, he said that he had one more, but it was a feisty and a little wild one. Naturally, I accepted without hesitation, and I got my little buddy here!" said Ash, rubbing Pikachu's stomach. "Well, he wasn't my little buddy back then. He wouldn't even listen to me though at first- I even had to wear rubber gloves!" laughed Ash. Fluttershy laughed as well, but not understanding the concept of gloves due to her lack of thumbs and fingers, but understanding the use of rubber after seeing how Pikachu could harness electricity.

"But it all changed when I was stupid enough to throw a rock at a Spearow cause' I was mad that Pikachu wouldn't listen to me."

"Ash! You're not stupid! Do not call yourself that!" scolded Fluttershy. "Although that was kind of unnecessary to do…" she thought.

She then slightly blushed. "Why do I care so much? I haven't even known him that long," she thought. "It's probably just me being overprotective. Yeah, that's it," she told herself.

"And the hug?" her mind asked.

But she was jolted out of her thoughts when Ash responded.

"Well, I was then Fluttershy. Anyways, this Spearow had gotten a little annoyed, and called all of his other bird friends and they all ganged up on us. So, me and Pikachu ran for it, and jumped into a river, where we were fished out by a girl named Misty. However, the Spearow found us again, so I "borrowed" Misty's bike and took Pikachu and me to the Pokémon Center, which is like a hospital for Pokémon. Boy, she wasn't happy about that. Arceus, she even followed me afterwards because of it! Well, I think it was because of the bike…she may have just enjoyed traveling with me and Brock…but that's a story for another time. Anyways, the Spearow caught up, and I tried to protect Pikachu from them, and Pikachu, being brave and awesome, releases a Thunder attack that wipes out the whole flock! We then rush to the Pokémon Center, where Pikachu was healed."

"And here's where Team Rocket comes in. Let me just tell you that Team Rocket? They're thieves, no-good crooks. They broke into the Pokémon Center to steal all the Pokémon and give them to their boss, Giovanni. But Pikachu here foiled them by letting of another Thunder so big, it sent them flying and destroyed about half the building! We also destroyed Misty's bike, but it was fixed later, so it's all good. And, that's the story of how Pikachu and me met!" finished Ash.

"Wow…" was all Fluttershy could say. She looked down at the little yellow creature beneath her with newfound admiration and respect. "I can't believe he actually did all that! Wish I had that great of a story…"

"You probably do! Let's see, how did you meet your bunny, Angel?"

Her face immediately darkened, and she turned away.

"I'd- I'd rather not talk about it."

"You sure you don't want to talk?"

"Yes, please!" said Fluttershy almost pleadingly.

"Uh, okay Fluttershy…" said Ash. The two sat in awkward silence.

Finally, Ash broke the awkwardness. "Well… off to Ponyville! Er… again!"

The duo walked towards Ponyville, Pikachu lounging on Ash's back, and his Pokéballs wrapped around his upper body, around his neck and torso. It had been difficult to get on, but with some help from Fluttershy he managed to do it. The two amiably chatted with each other about their friends and adventures. Finally, they made it to Ponyville after what seemed to Ash like hours (but only about 15 minutes).

Arriving on the outskirts of the town, Ash stepped forward….

And was immediately confronted by a large, fast-moving pink blur.

"Wha-!" yelped Ash in surprise as the pink…thing began bouncing and muttering to itself.

"Eye flutter, knee twitch, ear flop, tail twitch, ear flop? I've never had that one before, it must be a doozy!" said the voice, which from what Ash could discern was female. He'd never heard of giant cotton candy blobs, or if they could talk or not. Or even if they had genders…

He shuddered. That sounded really weird…he decided to store it in the back of his mind and ignore it. Maybe forever. Hopefully.

"Uh, okay…whatever you are, I'll be moving along now….bye..." said Ash, slowly edging away from the slightly scary pink thing.

He leaned backwards towards Fluttershy and whispered, "Uh Fluttershy? What was that?"

"You mean who was that? That was Pinkie Pie!" said Fluttershy.

"Pinkie Pie huh? Why was she so…"

"Random? That's actually her normal behavior."

"Whoa... wonder what random is to her then?" thought Ash aloud.

Fluttershy just put a hoof to his mouth and said, "We don't like to think about it."

Ash laughed and asked, "We? You mean your friends and you?"

"Yes, it's dangerous territory."

Ash laughed again, but looked at the seriousness on Fluttershy's face. His smile soon ebbed away, but just as soon Fluttershy's face broke a smile.

"Oh Ash, you're so silly."

"I'm silly? You're the one talking about how your friend is so random!"

"No, I was talking about how we don't think about what she would be like if she was random."

"Well…uh…" thought Ash, drawing blanks. He grudgingly said, "You win this round Fluttershy." She smiled. "Well, are we almost at Twilight's house?"

"Yes Ash. Now, it's right…over…here!"

Turning a corner, Ash saw a large tree. "Er, Fluttershy? You sure this is a house?"

Fluttershy then walked up to a door in the tree and knocked on it three times. Then, the door opened and Ash heard a voice say-

"Welcome to the Ponyville Libra- oh it's you Fluttershy, what's up?"

"Nothing really Twilight, but there's someone here who may need your help." replied Fluttershy.

"Oh, well do come in then! You and your friend…?"

"Ash."

"Oh, so it's a colt?" said Twilight, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"No...it's not…it's not like that! He just needs help!" said a blushing Fluttershy.

"Oh okay Fluttershy, I'll help your "friend"" said Twilight, snickering under her breath when she saw Fluttershy go redder.

Fluttershy turned around and told Ash to come in, her head down.

"Looks like Fluttershy needs me bud. Come on then," Ash said to Pikachu.

Ash walked over and noticed the purple unicorn in front of Fluttershy.

"Hi, I'm Ash!"

"I'm Twilight, nice to meet a new face around here!"

"It's nice to meet you as well, Ms. Twilight!" responded Ash cheerfully.

"Well, cute and polite Fluttershy, looks like you've found a good one here!" murmured an amused Twilight out of the corner of her mouth.

Fluttershy just sank her head further into her hooves, vainly trying to shield her bright red face from a puzzled Ash and a giggling Twilight.


	5. Enter Ponyville Part II

"Well Ash," asked Twilight. "What brings you to Ponyville today?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure," replied Ash. "All I remember is one moment being in the Professor's laboratory-"

"Wait, professor?"

"Yes, Professor Oak, he's the Pokémon spec-"

"Wait, Pokémon?"

"Yes, Pokem-"

"What's a Pokem-"

"HERE!" shouted Ash, handing a surprised Twilight an equally surprised Pikachu. "Pikachu, Twilight. Twilight, Pikachu. Now can I _finish before_ there are any more quest-?"

But it was to no avail. Twilight had succumbed already to the cuteness that is Pikachu, and she was petting and cuddling him, occasionally making noises such as squeaks and 'daaws'.

Ash sighed to himself, and sat down on the floor. Fluttershy walked over and sat down next to him, and whispered "She was like this with the parasprites too, you know."

"Parasprites?" asked Ash.

"Cutest little bugs ever! Red, green, blue, all sorts of colors! But they did like eating our food and buildings a lot, but Pinkie got rid of them later. She did act very strange that day though…"

"So, Twilight loved them huh? Just like that?" Ash asked, pointing to the aforementioned pony, now rubbing a contented Pikachu's belly.

"Oh yes, very similar behavior," replied Fluttershy.

"Was this how a lot of the ponies acted when they came?"

"Yes, very much so! Well, except Pinkie. She wanted a tuba, or a harmonica, or a trombone…"

"So….you weren't the same way on _both_ occasions?" smirked Ash.

"…well…..er…" stammered Fluttershy.

"Oh Fluttershy. You love animals, it's only likely that cute ones would make you fall in love with them." said Ash.

"..you wouldn't believe how right you are…" mumbled a pink-tinged Fluttershy.

"Huh?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Well, just my luck. All of Ponyville seems to love cute animals, and my team is just one of the cutest teams I could possibly assemble without knowing it…" thought Ash to himself.

The two sat in silence, not awkward, but a pleasant silence, disrupted only by an occasional 'cha' or 'aww'. Eventually, Twilight had recovered from her temporary bout of what Ash dubbed 'cuteness-itis' which he defined (in his head) as 'an irresistible and irrepressible female urge to adore and love a 'cute' animal, despite no prior knowledge or experience of said animal.' Well, not in those exact terms, and maybe not only with females, but nonetheless, the same concept applied. Pikachu ran towards Ash and ran up his back onto his shoulder, settling there, while Twilight walked over to Ash, sat down, and faced him.

"So Ash, ignoring my, ahem, previous distraction, what brings you and Fluttershy into Ponyville today?" asked Twilight.

"Well, might as well get to the point, I'm a pony, right? A brown, male, earth pony, to be specific?" asked Ash.

"Well…yes, why wouldn't you be?" responded a confused Twilight.

"Because I'm not."Twilight slowly re-hinged her jaw into place from the floor after a few moments, and stared at Ash, who began to grow uneasy at her look.

"So, you mean to tell me, that despite the fact that you look like an earth pony, act like an earth pony, and-" she ran to sniff him "- smell like an earth pony, you're _not_ one?"

"Well, yes…" replied Ash, slightly confused, and rightly so, due to the fact that she had just randomly come over and smelled him.

"Well, what are you then? A manticore in disguise? A pegasus pony without your wings? Maybe you have them hidden somewhere-"

"A human."

"Oh…..wait, OH HORSEAPPLES!" yelled Twilight. "Quick Fluttershy, close the blinds and windows!"

Fluttershy, having fainted after the yell, sprang up and closed the windows and shut the blinds, plunging the room into darkness.

Despite Fluttershy's whimpers in the darkness, Twilight maintained her worried yet serious demeanor.

"Er, what's with all the-" Ash asked, only to be interrupted.

"Shhh!" hissed Twilight, peering out the window. Ash reasoned it was dangerous outside, but his curiosity eventually overcame his caution, and he peeked outside…into a Ponyville….filled with…absolutely normal ponies doing normal things.

"Geez, I would've at least expected a giant robot to be attacking the place for that reaction," muttered Ash.

"Sorry, safety precautions," said Twilight.

"Pre- what nows?"

"Safety measures."

"Oh. Wait, why?" asked Ash.

"You see, when I was in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns-"

"Wait, where?"

"Be quiet and let me finish please!"

"Geez, I let you interrupt me…." muttered Ash.

"Don't worry Ash, Twilight's very nice, it's just that Twilight gets _really _into teaching and studying and that, and takes it really seriously, so she'd want to tell you everything without interruptions." placated Fluttershy.

"I suppose that makes sense. But still…"

"Will you two lovebirds stop chit-chattering back there and pay attention!" barked Twilight.

The two blushed and promptly looked away from each other.

"Better," said Teacher Twilight (As Ash was beginning to see her. Thank Arceus he didn't have to take those boring classes in the Pokémon Trainer's Academy, and deal with this Tauros sh-)

"Now!" said Twilight, "How exactly did you get here Mr…?"

"Ketchum."

"Okay then, Mr. Ketchum. How did you get to Ponyville?"

"Oh, that's easy! Me and Fluttershy walked here from the forest!"

Twilight facehoofed, while Fluttershy just sighed.

"Uh, Twilight?"

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"Can…can I go to the little filly's room?"

"Can you?"

"_May _I go to the little filly's room?"

"Yes, but take a buddy….actually nevermind. You may go."

As Fluttershy rushed to the bathroom, Twilight turned back to Ash, and asked, "No, how did you- Wait, let me rephrase the question. How did you get to the forest?"

"The forest? Huh…let me think.. Oh yeah, it was from the Professor's lab back in Kanto!"

"Kanto?"

"It's one of the continents on Earth. Well, my Earth at least. Let's think, there's Kanto, where I'm from, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and a whole bunch of islands and stuff."

"Interesting….but irrelevant. How did you get here from the 'Professor's' lab?" asked Twilight.

"Well, I had just woken up, eaten breakfast, and hung out with my Pokémon for a little training, when the Professor called me on my Pokedex. He wanted me to come over and check something out at the lab, and told me to bring all my Pokémon. So, naturally, I went, and he said he found a new kind of Pokémon, called….hmm, what was it called…Argh, I can't remember! Anyways, he had a weird book, and there was a prophecy in it," said Ash.

"A prophecy?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, let's think, it was like….._Thirteen heroes, two worlds apart….._uh…_will save the world from eternal dark, and defeat the evil which roams the land, with power as imme….immen….immes….immeasurable as sand! _Then…er.. _But the thirteen together must work well, lest they be destroyed, casting worlds into hell…._and _for the heroes are the last hope, or it may be too late to save Kanto and Equestria, sealing everyone's fate_." recited Ash. "And that's it I believe. Oh yeah, and I was sucked into the book and brought into the forest where Fluttershy found me and my Pokémon, and we went to her house, and-"

"Wait, you went to her house?" interrupted Twilight.

"Yeah, I needed a place to bunk for the night, and she offered to let me stay."

"So all you did was go and sleep? Fluttershy seemed pretty normal?" asked Twilight.

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't she?"

He then had a flashback back to that night, when Fluttershy had given him a hug and whispered in his ear, and his face tinged red, he looked downwards.

"No, it was just like a sleepover or something….I only knew her for a day, no feelings could come from that…And even if she did, I don't feel the same way!" thought Ash frantically. "And I'm only blushing because it's awkward!"

"Haha! I knew it! Fluttershy has a crush on somepony!" crowed Twilight triumphantly. "I bet it's you! I could tell by your face…it's redder than the fur on Big Macintosh's flank!"

Hearing this, Ash sensed his opportunity. "So, this…. Macintosh has a red flank? And you'd know, 'cause you look at it often?"

"What- n-no! It's obvious that his flank is red, like the rest of his body!" spluttered Twilight through her raging blush.

"Yeah, sure Twi…sure. And you'd know, because you stare at his body all day I bet," smirked a victorious Ash. "Ha, now you know what teasing is like; it's a nightmare. Wait….nightmare…WAIT! That was the Pokémon the Professor had found! It was in his book with the prophecy!" said Ash.

"Wait, the book mentioned Nightmares? What was it called?" said a now slightly more composed, less red Twilight attempting seriousness, unlike a certain yellow Pokémon, who was enjoying laughing at their expressions.

"I dunno, the book was faded, and the title was faded too. Well that was kinda obvious, but still! Professor Oak didn't have anything on the Nightmare in any of his history or mythology books either…It was something he had never seen before," said Ash.

"…Well, that's not good," remarked Twilight.

"What's not good?" asked a returning Fluttershy.

"Nothing we're worried about at the moment Fluttershy. But it may be soon enough…I think I'm going to need to talk to some people before deciding on the importance."

"Okay then Twilight. Oh wait, I may or may not regret this, but would you like to see my other Pokémon?" asked Ash.

"You mean there's _**MORE**_**?" **asked an excited Twilight. "How many are there?"

"I have my main 6 on me right now, but there are about, from my guess, about 500 more or less, but with the legendaries like Arceus and Giratina and them, well…could be more."

"500? That's-That's immense! How does Kanto hold them all?" asked Twilight.

"Not all of the Pokémon are native to one continent. Remember? There are 4 others, besides the island. On my team for example, Starly," he threw the ball containing Starly out, "and Turtwig" throwing the other ball, "are both native to Sinnoh."

Throwing out another ball, he explained "Larvitar here however is native only to Johto, but Pikachu here is native mainly to Kanto but can be found in Safari Zones spread throughout the world. And-" holding up a hoof to stem Twilight's impending questions "-a Safari Zone is basically a place where non-native Pokémon to a region or continent hang out. There are even different typed, and they all have different types as well. For example, Squirtle's a Water-Type, Pikachu is an Electric-Type, Starly is a Flying-Type, and so on. They also have different attacks and moves, some according to type, and some not. Get it?"

"Yes Ash, I do," responded Twilight, which severely creeped Ash out, because he barely remembered anything of what he just said, and he'd been with Pokémon for…his whole life basically! "And I'd say Fluttershy would get it too, if she wasn't busy playing with your Pokémon friends." giggled Twilight.

Ash glanced over at his Pokémon, including Pikachu, where they were all congregated around Fluttershy, and she was playing with them, and singing, and just generally loving them. Ash felt though, that everyone should join in on the fun, and sent out Squirtle and Charmander to play. Even Larvitar was somewhat playing, if only from a slight distance.

"Wow, she's good…." commented Ash under his breath.

"I'd agree," muttered back Twilight.

"Mm-hmm….wait, what?" yelled Ash.

"Oh, priceless! I bet, just as my little pony friend over there likes you, I bet you feel the same way!" snickered Twilight.

Ash turned and walked away, muttering.

"I didn't hear you say you didn't like her…" called Twilight, a smile on her face. One Ash dearly wished would disappear. Then he remembered.

"Hey, Twilight!"

"Yeah Casanova?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind..what?"

"Big Macintosh."

"…..be quiet."

All the while, Fluttershy played with the Pokémon, completely oblivious to the conversation.

After their exchange of words, Twilight decided to play with Fluttershy and the Pokémon, and seemed to enjoy herself. Ash however, decided to think about what had happened since he had gotten to the strange town in this strange new world.

It was….astounding to say the least. He thought about how just the morning before, he had woken in his own bed, with two arms, legs, and opposable thumbs. "Oh, opposable thumbs, how I miss them so! I was able to hold anything back with those, from Pokéballs to food….Mmm…food," thought Ash to himself.

"Uh, Ash?"

"Wha- Oh, hey Fluttershy, what's up?"

"Um…there's something on your face," said Fluttershy. "Not to be rude or anything! But it's just….there..and…I'm gonna go now.."

"Huh, thanks Fluttershy," said Ash, wiping drool from his chin. Evidently, his thoughts on food had spread to his mouth. "Hey, wait!"

Ash trotted back up to Fluttershy and asked her to wait for a second. She complied, and Ash walked over to Twilight.

"Hey, Twi?"

"Since when did you start calling me that?"

"Since…..about an hour ago, I think. You didn't hear me?"

"Apparently not."

"Well, is it cool for me to call you that?"

"Well, I usually only let my friends call me that…but I guess we're friends now, so okay! That's the magic of friendship for ya!"

"K' then, so I have a question. You wanna show me around town with Fluttershy? All I've seen of Ponyville is the library so far," asked Ash.

"Hmm, I don't know, let me check my to-do-list. SPIKE!" yelled Twilight towards the stairs.

"Coming, Twilight!" responded a boyish, slightly high-pitched voice. "Hey Twi, what's up?"

"Oh, I need you to get my to-do-list for today! Oh, and also, meet Ash," said Twilight. "Actually, I'll let you two get acquainted. I'll go get my list."

"Huh, Ash, right? Nice to meet ya," said Spike, extending out a clawed hand as Twilight disappeared upstairs.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see a shiny Charmander before!" squealed Ash excitedly (like a little schoolfilly, thought Spike), accidentally knocking Twilight into a shelf of books. "I mean, a shiny is rare enough, but a shiny _Charmander_? That's like…." (Attempts to do the math in his head) "Impossible!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa dude….whoa. I am not a Charmander, whatever that is. _I_ am a dragon. FEAR ME!" bellowed Spike, breathing fire and smoke.

"Nice try, I've seen scarier," responded Ash casually. "And felt worse," he thought.

"Worth a try anyways. What's a Charmander though?" asked Spike.

"A Charmander? Here, let me show you. Fluttershy? Can you bring Charmander over here?"

"Sure Ash!" said Fluttershy, picking up the orange dragon and setting him down next to Ash.

"Okay, so Spike, meet Charmander. Charmander, Spike."

"Wow, what is he? No offense or anything," asked Spike.

"He's a Charmander….he's like a dragon, sorta like you I suppose."

"Like me, huh? Can he do this?" challenged Spike, breathing a foot of green fire.

Only to receive a blast of red fire in his face, and fall over onto the ground.

"Touché," mumbled Spike, muffled by the hardwood floor. Fluttershy shrieked and ran for a bucket of water, which she proceeded to empty onto Spike.

"Thanks Fluttershy, and you," said Spike, pointing to the Charmander. "You're alright, kid. You're alright."

Charmander sighed, but accepted it anyways. Despite being older than Spike- or so he liked to think.

"Good. You two get along now," said Ash. "Spike, would you like to meet the rest of my Pokémon?"

"Sure!"

"Okay, hey guys! Come in here!"

Squirtle, Pikachu, Larvitar, Starly, and Turtwig all walked in, and greeted Spike, then proceeded to dog-pile him because he called them cute. Except Pikachu, but he was doing his fair share of electrical sparks.

"Ow, wait wha- OW! Can these guys attack me?" yelled Spike.

"Uh, yeah…hey guys! Off of him!" barked Ash.

The Pokémon complied and got off him, but not before sitting on his head. They all walked over to Ash and stood next to him.

"SPIKE!" screamed a voice upstairs.

"TWILIGHT!" bellowed Spike, barreling upstairs and bursting through the door. "What's happened? DID YOU EXPLODE?"

"No! It's worse! I-I can't find my list! I CAN'T FIND IT!"

Meanwhile, Ash and Pokémon stood in the doorway, slightly confused. Ash then thought of a way to reprimand his Pokémon.

"Hey, Twi? Need any help?"

"Yes! Please!"

"Ok guys, you heard her. Since you thought it was _so fun _to jump on Spike here earlier, then you'll find it even more fun to help her find her list!"

"And no Pikachu, you will not use that face on me. I've been immune to it for two years, it won't start working now. Charmander, put that fire out. Squirtle, swallow that water," said Ash, without even looking at the Pokémon. They, needless to say, were a little stunned, and began helping Twilight and Spike look for the list.

"Well Twi, if you need me, I suppose me and Fluttershy are gonna go explore town."

A frustrated "Argh!" was his response. "Okay then….you guys be good."

Ash's Pokémon grumbled as they worked, as they all plotted how to get back at Ash…

"Hey Fluttershy, you wanna show me around town?" asked Ash as he came back downstairs.

"Huh?" said Fluttershy. "Oh, sure! Though maybe you should leave your Pokémon here, the townspeople may get scared…or mob you. Neither one is very nice…"

"Don't worry, I've _asked _them to help Twilight find her list," smirked Ash. "Now, shall we be off?"

"Um, okay then."

Ash then opened the door for her out the library, and ushered her out.

"Oh my, he's such a gentlecolt," thought Fluttershy.

"So, where to first Flutte- IT'S YOU AGAIN!" yelled Ash suddenly.

"GASP! ITS YOU TOO!"

"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well, I was going to ask Twilight if she wanted to have a party, but then I remembered she didn't want me near the library because of last time, but the fire just erupted from my cannon! I don't know how it got there! HEY! Wanna have a party?" said the hyperactive pink pony.

"Huh wha-..I don't even know…." said Ash.

"Do I know you? Because if I don't, then I have to throw youuuu-u-u-u-u-Aaaah!" said Pinkie, before violently beginning to twitch and bounce around, just like last time.

"Fluttershy, what's going on?" asked Ash urgently.

"She's having a Pinkie twitch! They tell her something's about to happen!" responded Fluttershy.

Soon, a crowd began gathering around the increasingly twitchy Pinkie, who moved and twisted and twitched very strangely.

And then it stopped.

"Wowzies! That was one heck of a doozy!" said Pinkie.

"Wait, a doozy? You said that last time I saw you!" said Ash.

"Oh, that one? I figured that one out. That's the one whenever someone new comes to town. Or if a 10-foot apple will magically appear and knock over all the stalls in the marketplace. I'm not sure. But this doozy was weird! All I know is that something bad is gonna happen, and that it's going to happen to Fluttershy and you!"

The crowd began muttering among themselves, some noticing the new pony in town and wondering if _he_ was going to be the cause of whatever bad was going to happen. These sentiments quickly spread throughout the crowd like wildfire, and soon, the ponies began muttering dangerously and angrily.

"New ponies are always trouble," said one.

"Them newponies are gonna drive all of us outta business!" said another.

"Muffins!" said a third.

Fluttershy, growing increasingly nervous, began edging away and attempting to pull Ash away before he could hear anything the ponies were saying and possibly get into trouble. Ash felt her tug on his tail and noticed the crowd's temperament, began edging away with her as well. The two then trotted away, attempting to avoid contact and began to head towards Fluttershy's house.

"Well, thanks Fluttershy for helping me out there! I wouldn't have noticed that, and I may have gotten into a bad situation," thanked Ash.

"It's no problem at all. You're a good pony, but the people in Ponyville are just scared of new people. It took them a long time before they got used to Zecora."

"Who?"

"I'll have Twilight tell you later, she's better at storytelling." responded Fluttershy. "Huh, what's that?"

"Fluttershy?"

A rustling in the bush attracted Fluttershy's attention, and she wandered over to it to inspect it, curious…..

When a manticore leaped from the bush towards her, claws extended at her throat!

Fluttershy prided herself on being good with animals, but this one she knew instinctively wasn't going to leave with a nice talking to.

"Aah!" she screamed as she tried to fly, only for her wings to lock up. She shut her eyes and knew that this was it, that she'd never again open her eyes and see her animal friends, both old and new, her best friends, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity…none of them again. She'd never get the chance to tell Ash….

"RARGH!"

"Wha-!" screamed Fluttershy.

For the manticore, which had leapt in with a deadly strike, had been kicked through the air away from her, leaving her unscathed.

And standing above her, head high, fire burning in his eyes, stood Ash.

"Ash…"

"Fluttershy, stand still. I'll handle this," said Ash as he ran towards the beast. Leaping over its outstretched tail, he delivered a kick to its exposed muzzle, making it writhe in pain. The manticore then leaped at him in rage and fury, extending a paw for a decisive blow. Ash nimbly dodged…

Only to get hit by one of the manticore's legs.

"Oof!" went Ash as he was flung into a tree by the sheer power. "That's…gonna hurt in the morning."

"ASH!" shrieked Fluttershy, as the manticore rushed towards her.

"I've got to protect her! It's my duty to, not because I like her though!" thought Ash. "Go, Pika….oh no!"

Ash had left all his Pokémon with Twilight and Spike!

"No…..NO! THIS IS NOT HOW IT WILL END! YOU WILL NOT HURT ANYONE HERE ANYMORE!" bellowed Ash with rage, feeling power rush through his body.

He channeled his energy, his rage, his passion for fighting, all throughout his body towards that one moment, and he knew what he had to do. He leaped into the air, twisted towards the manticore, focused his two forelegs, and yelled-

"AURA….SPHERE!"

The manticore looked up at the yell, only to see a bright blue ball of energy fly towards him, and fling him high into the sky, towards the Everfree Forest, and disappear in a twinkle of light.

As Ash tumbled towards the ground, he felt exhaustion come over him, and a slightly burning sensation on his flank. But he had only one thought: "Make sure Fluttershy is okay." He crawled towards her scared and motionless body, and wrapped a foreleg around her, saying, "It's okay now Fluttershy…It's okay…" as he fell into unconsciousness.

"..Now look what you've done to the poor boy!"

"It's how we do it in my world! At least it was fast and effective!"

"That's not the point Arcy! The point is that you could have done it to be a _little _less dangerous!"

"The boy thrives on danger Celly! He lives for the thrills!"

"That's no excuse to send a blood-thirsty manticore after him!"

Ash awoke to hear a quite loud (and frankly annoying) argument taking place in front of him. His head hurt, his body hurt, his…head hurt again. He forced his eyes open to tell the arguers to take it somewhere else, when he saw who they were-

They were a quite majestic cross between a Pegasus and a Unicorn pony, with a shimmering and not exactly solid mane of colors, and the almighty God Arceus himself.

And they were arguing like children.

"How would you have done it then Celly?"

"I don't know! I would've probably-"

"Ha! So you don't even know if your plan would work!"

"Of course not, you put your stupid plan into place already!"

"It worked, didn't it!"

"That's beside the point!"

"You know what Celly? I'm done talking with you. You're annoying and mean. But I will put up with it to help acquaint our new arrival here. Ash?"

"Bluh- Huh? Me?"

Arceus looked around himself, into the vast emptiness of the land they were standing on, which was apparently clouds.

The pony/pegasus whispered to Ash in a female voice, "Yes, he means you."

"Erm…I mean yes Arceus?"

"Good. You know who I am. And this-" he said, motioning to the pony next to him- "Is Princess Celestia, an alicorn. You'll probably meet her later while you're in Equestria. She's a rare and slightly weird cross between-"

"I am not weird!" protested the newly named Celestia.

"Chocolate pudding," responded Arceus.

"Tha- That was just once! I was curious!"

"Point taken. Now Ash, I bet you're wondering where exactly you are." Ash nodded. "Well then, you are in the Dream Region. This is the only place where our two dimensions and universes can meet, since anything can happen in dreams. Me and Celestia met here in fact, about, what, 400 years ago?"

"Maybe a little more."

"Okay then. But the point is, we've never been able to cross dimensions, only meet here."

"Until me," said Ash.

"Until you Ash," agreed Celestia. "You've managed to somehow cross dimensions, change form, and retain all knowledge of your other dimension self without completely unraveling the fabric of the time-space continuum, _and _even bring your comrades along. Even Arceus and I combining our powers couldn't do that!"

"No, we would not be able to. Nor would any of my legendary creations combined plus the two of us and your sister. Cross-dimension traveling may seem easy in theory, but one must take into factor all the potential problems, such as memory loss, existence issues, etc."

"Which means that someone more powerful than me and Arceus brought you here. They brought you for a reason," said Celestia. "But who…?"

Arceus looked at Ash kindly, and said "I know this is a lot to absorb Ash. I frankly can barely believe it myself. But it's happened. And it seems you're involved. I don't know what you have to do now though, so just go on normally. Don't alert the other ponies of your true presence here, for terror is not one of the things we want right now. We'll contact you next time we need to speak with you." Celestia nodded in agreement.

"Shall we send him back to consciousness Celly?"

"Let us do that then Arcy," responded Celestia.

The two gathered power, one from her horn, and the other from the spinning wheels. As Ash was enveloped in a bright white light, he also distinctly heard the two of them yell-

"Good luck with Fluttershy!"

Ash opened his eyes, and stared into the face of a scared Fluttershy.

"It's alright Fluttershy…It's alright now."

Fluttershy then buried her head in his mane, sobbing. I'm sorry Ash! I thought I'd lost you! I'm sorry I didn't help! I'm sor-"

Ash put a hoof to her muzzle and smiled. "It's okay Fluttershy. I'm fine, and you're fine, and we're all just as before."

"Well, not exactly," said Pinkie.

"How so, Pinkie? Wait, Pinkie? What are you doing here?"

"Oh that's easy-peasy, I just followed all the ponies here!"

Ash looked behind her, and saw dozen of ponies standing there, mouths dropped in awe.

"Why are they there?" asked a perplexed Ash.

"They were scared of the doozy I had! But after you let that big boom of blue out, it stopped!"

"Oh…my Aura Sphere…" mumbled Ash. "Wait though, how am I not the same as before?"

"Look at your flank," said another familiar voice.

"Twilight? My flank?" said Ash confusedly before looking at it. To his surprise, he saw a bright picture of a blue sphere of pure energy, Aura, emblazoned on his flank.

"Your Cutie Mark. It's basically a symbol of who you are, or your special talent," explained Twilight.

And the crowd erupted in cheers, both for the new Cutie Mark on the stranger, and the heroic acts he had done.

"Pika!"

"Squirtle-Squirt!"

"Charmander!"

"Star!"

"Larvitar!"

"Tur-Turtwig!"

His Pokémon rushed towards him, past the utterly shocked faces of the crowd and onto Ash and Fluttershy, who laughed as they cuddled with them.

Ash then realized that he had to do something. He whispered to Pikachu, and the yellow Pokémon rolled his eyes but nodded.

He jumped from the ground with Pikachu on his shoulder, and bucking his legs showing his Cutie Mark, yelled-

"I just got….a Cutie Mark!"

Fireworks and streamers erupted from behind him, and he turned to an abashed Pinkie, who sheepishly said, "Sorry, party cannon!"

As Ash looked around the crowd, he realized there was going to be some explaining to do. A lot of explaining. But first..

He walked over to Twilight and whispered something in her ear. She nodded, and focused, conjuring up a _very _familiar hat.

Ash almost 'squee'd in delight, and rushed to put it on. His favorite hat, the very first one from the Pokémon League Expo!

As he twisted his hat backwards, and with his trusty team and his ally Fluttershy beside him, there was _absolutely nothing_ that he couldn't accomplish!

He looked at the questioning looks on the crowd. "There may be a few slow-downs though..."


	6. Holiday Happenings

Ash, Fluttershy and Twilight slowly began to back away from the oncoming crowd slowly pressing towards him with increasing urgency as Pikachu nervously began sparking electricity on Ash's back. A spark leapt from his cheek and onto Ash, who then yelped in surprise.

"Ouch Pikachu!"

That effectively broke the dam holding the ponies back and releasing the floodwaters of questioning.

"Who are you?"

"How'd you learn to move like that?"

"What's that thing on your back?"

"What's your cutie mark mean?"

"Muffin?"

Questions flew over Ash's head like arrows over the battlements; Ash actually ducked his head in an attempt to avoid the immensity of inquiries, the queues of queries, the-

"ASH! Would you kindly be quiet! Despite your clever wordplay, you're giving me a headache!" snapped an annoyed Twilight.

Realizing he'd been narrating what he'd been thinking out loud for a while, he sheepishly apologized. "I didn't say anything too dumb, did I?"

"No, of course not!" said Twilight. "But there was that one thing about how cute Fluttershy was…"

"Oh oka- wait I said what?" yelled Ash, slightly tinged red.

"Well actually, you haven't said anything…_yet_. I didn't need any words to read that, however," snickered Twilight, a smirk adorning her purple (and in Ash's case, quite annoying) face.

With a mock angry huff, Ash turned around and marched away with Pikachu on his back away from Twilight and Fluttershy, who had been hovering above them but had since disappeared with a squeak into the crowd after hearing Twilight and Ash talk.

"Hey Twi! Where are we headed anyways?" yelled Ash behind him.

"We're heading to the store of a friend of mine!" yelled Twilight back. Strangely enough, she sounded quite far away from Ash, almost like….

Oh no.

Ash turned around and swiftly ducked under the leg of a raucous berry colored pony with berries as her cutie mark wobbling dangerously around, only to see none of his friends anywhere near him.

"Twilight? Fluttershy?" yelled Ash, only to receive silence as his answer. "Arceus, where are either of them? Great, I've lost both of my guides..."

Pikachu agreed morosely and slumped onto Ash's back as Ash walked into a nearby alley.

"Well, at least all the ponies following us have left," said Ash as he leaned against the wall of the alley. "But I'm still lost in a town where my only guides have disappeared, and I have no idea how I'm going to get anywh- wait, Starly!"

Ash looked up and saw his bird Pokémon fluttering down towards him. He'd almost forgotten that he hadn't had time to return Starly with the rest of his Pokémon before the crowd had gotten to him and had instead sent Starly flying because he'd be the least conspicuous of the group. After all, he was still a bird.

The bird landed on his shoulder with a hoot and looked at him questioningly.

"Good, you're here. Starly, I need you to search around for the two ponies we were with earlier. Remember? A lavender purple one with a purple mane and a pink stripe down the middle, or a butter yellow one with a pink mane, got it?" asked Ash.

The bird Pokémon nodded once and flew off into the sky in search of the ponies. Meanwhile, Ash sat back down next to a frustrated looking Pikachu.

"Hey Pikachu, what's up with you?" he asked, ruffling his head and earning a sigh. Pikachu sparked his cheeks angrily and pointed at the crowd outside the alley looking for them.

"Look buddy, I know we may not be in the best situation, but we've gotta think this through. It's not the best idea to go blasting ponies in a town where our best hope at ever getting back to Kanto lives," Ash said, a sad look on his face.

"Wow, I just realized….What about Mom? How is she doing right now? Does she even know I'm gone?" thought Ash aloud. "Or Dawn, or Brock, or Misty, or even Professor Oak? How are they doing now that I'm gone? Man…"

Pikachu was reminiscing about things back home he missed too, like Ash's mother giving him tummy rubs, and battling, and Dawn's Buneary, and-wait what?

Pikachu shook his head to get that thought out of his head. He may miss a lot of stuff, but no matter what Ash or Dawn say, he wouldn't miss her. A lot, at least. He may miss her a little….

"Whoa Pikachu, what's up with your head? You eat a fly or something? Trust me: it's not a good idea to try. Stupid Gary with his stupid ideas…" muttered Ash. "You know what? Let's go find our own way out! I'll find Starly later, but I'm tired of sitting here doing nothing! Let's go do something!"

Pikachu leapt onto Ash's back again, and Ash yelled out as he ran out of the alley into the street in front, pushing through the mass of pony bodies that…weren't there?

Ash fell with a "thump" to the ground, dazedly looking around only to see a lot of ponies looking at him strangely.

"I guess the crowd after us didn't feel like sticking around once we'd left," said Ash. At least that made for easier visibility, and it made it easier for him to try to find his friends.

Ash looked around for his colorful comrades, but saw neither one. He scanned the skies for Starly, but didn't see him either.

"Oh come on!" yelled Ash, earning himself another strange look. He turned to the nearest pony walking by, a green pony with a lyre as her cutie mark and asked, "Have you seen-"

But he didn't get to finish before she suddenly yelled "HANDS!" and walked away.

"Ugh! Is everypony in this town crazy or something?" Ash yelled in frustration as he kicked a nearby tree. Pikachu also decided to vent his annoyance into the tree as well.

"Well, I don't know about you Pikachu, but I'm feeling kinda better," said Ash. "How about you?"

Glancing down at Pikachu, he only saw the horrified look on his little friend. But he heard the buzzing.

From the tree that they had just hit.

"Arceus, no, even here?" whined Ash.

Out of the tree poured hundreds of bees, all confused and dazed because of somepony hitting their tree and knocking around their hive. No one, pony or other animal, messes with a bee's hive. Well, except for the honey badger. After discovering the annoyance was _not _a honey badger, they knew they had one objective: Catch the brown pony and his yellow companion. The swarm…well swarmed towards him and Pikachu, the first extending a leg, threw the second onto his back, and promptly turned around sprinting the other way.

"Beedrill…they don't even exist here, and yet they still manage to hunt me down!" screamed Ash as he raced down the streets of Ponyville, confused citizens looking on as they passed, with Pikachu holding on for dear life.

"Arceus, oh Arceus, if you have any mercy at all, please save me from this torment!" prayed Ash as he sprinted, but he felt himself take each step slower than before, each bound closer than the previous.

And, as Ash was about to throw Pikachu off and take the brunt of the bees by himself instead, a door opened up ahead and a voice screamed, "Get inside! Quickly!"

Ash was quick to oblige and leapt inside with Pikachu, rolling onto the hardwood floor and seeing their host slam the door shut, thankfully locking the irate bees outside. With an angry buzz, the swarm flew off, vowing vengeance against the brown colt and strange other creature later.

"Huff…Thank…you…for that…" panted Ash. Pikachu nodded his thanks as well.

"Oh it's absolutely no problem dear," said their savior, a white unicorn with a startlingly well-kept purple mane and red glasses. "But if there is one thing that I have a problem with, it's your clothes!"

"What? I don't even wear clothes!" said Ash, looking down at himself. All he was wearing was…well he wasn't wearing anything! Except his hat at least, but…oh no… no way.

"Your hat is just so _not _you, I mean, it clashes with your eyes and fur, and its _dreadfully _dirty, and- my word, what is that?" she squealed, pointing at a relaxing Pikachu while falling backwards into a couch that Ash could have sworn wasn't there earlier. Pikachu stood up, gave a noncommittal grunt in her direction, and lay back down.

"Oh him? That's Pikachu!"

"Him? What's a Pikachu?" she asked, fanning herself slightly with her hoof.

"Man, I'd do anything for a professor here! Heck, I'd even settle for Gary here! Well, I've explained it multiple times, but I think I gave a really good explanation to somepony around here…Hey, have you seen a purple unicorn with a purple mane and pink stripe down the middle? Or a yellow one with a pink mane?" Ash asked.

"Huh, would their names happen to be Twilight and Fluttershy perhaps?"

"Yeah, that's it! Have you seen them?"

"Seen them? Darling, they're right behind you!"

"What- Holy Arceus how long have you been standing there?" Ash yelped as he turned around and found himself face to face with Fluttershy and…Twilight with black scarves wrapped around her head and wearing all black.

Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but then a giddy Twilight butted in.

"Ever since you walked in. We've been stalking you from behind the whole time since we came from the kitchen after I got thirsty and drank this bottle!" Twilight said, levitating said bottle. The white pony showed shock on her face at Twilight's antics, while Twilight continued. "We had Rarity distract you while we were busy being ninja ponies!" she said gleefully. "I even bought some black scarves we used to hide our faces! And noses!"

Fluttershy closed her mouth with a sigh.

"Uh, Twilight? Why are you so….not...uptight?" Ash asked.

"Uptight! Who said I'm uptight? I'll show them uptight!" Twilight declared, stomping out of towards the door. A loud "thump" was soon heard, followed by a "I'm okay, but I think one of the Princesses is drinking, cause' she's making the world spin _really really _fast…"

Followed by a quieter "thump" and light snoring.

"Uh, okay then…" Ash said nervously. "So, hello?"

XXXX

"Rarity? Well, it's nice to meet you!"

"A pleasure to meet you as well Ash," said Rarity.

"So, how do you know Twilight and Fluttershy?" asked Ash.

"Well, I knew Fluttershy from some of my forays in the forest to search for gems. As you can see, I run a boutique and my specialty is clothing, and gems always look good on clothing! Of course, it has to be the right size, and shape, and color…but moving on! I was walking in the forest one day to search, and I managed to get myself haplessly lost. I wandered about yelling for help, but I couldn't see or hear anyone in response. But, right when I was about to give up, I saw Fluttershy walking through the trees, and thank Celestia she knew the way out and helped me. We became friends after that endeavor," replied Rarity, smiling at the memory.

After a little pause, Ash gave a motion for her to continue, and she began talking again.

"I knew Twilight from when she first came to Ponyville and was working for Princess Celestia to set up the Summer Sun Celebration. I remember that day; she wanted to get through her tasks so fast, and didn't want to talk to anypony. She wasn't really the friend-making kind of person back then. But, I guess once you have a party and fight off an evil goddess bent on ruling a world shrouded in eternal darkness, you get some good friends out of it."

"Huh," Ash said, nodding his head while secretly thinking how he didn't understand any of that second story, and made a mental note to ask Twilight about it later.

"Wait, shouldn't we do something about Twilight? What happened to her anyways?" asked Ash after seeing Fluttershy prod her friend's side for about the 100th time in the last minute.

"Oh, Twilight? She….well she arrived at my boutique about 15 minutes before you did," Rarity said. "She was waiting for a brown colt with a hat, which I presume is you, and then remembered she had to talk to Fluttershy about something in private. So, they went in the kitchen, where they talked. About what, I have no idea, but the last thing I heard was Twilight saying she needed something for her headache some annoying colt had given her earlier…I presume that was also you?" she said, tilting her glasses down to look sternly at him.

"Er…well," said Ash nervously, looking down. "Look, I can explain-"

He looked back up to see an amused Rarity and Fluttershy attempting to contain her giggles and ultimately fail.

"Oh haha, I see how it is," grumbled Ash, sitting down huffily.

Fluttershy walked over to him and sat down next to him, saying "Oh Ash, it's only in good fun. Don't worry; I won't let them say anything that might hurt your feelings."

Ash smiled and turned to his friend. "Thanks Fluttershy." Fluttershy nodded, and the two lay down on the floor as Rarity heard the door ring and rushed to it while a dazed Twilight was slowly coming to. Twilight moaned in annoyance at many things, from the loud noises to the pain in her head from falling and her failure at treating her headache.

"Whoo...how long was I out?"

"About an hour or two. You went in my kitchen and came out all strange acting and pulling Fluttershy, telling her to 'tell somepony something'…or something like that," replied Rarity, writing down an order she had just received for a dress. "What exactly did you drink?"

"I don't exactly remember, but I do remember it was in a bluish bottle," called Twilight from the bathroom where she had gone to wash her face.

"This one?" Rarity asked, waving a blue bottle.

"Yeah, that's it. Wow, that must have been some strong stuff to knock me out," commented Twilight.

"Uh, Twilight? Are you sure you drank from this bottle?"

"Yes I'm fairly sure. Why?"

"Because it's still almost full. There's about half a cup missing…and it barely has any alcohol in it! You really can't handle your drinks, huh?"

"What? No way, that's manure," said Twilight, walking over to the kitchen and examining the bottle.

"Twilight, hush now, we have guests! Be careful with your words," admonished Rarity.

"Fine _Mom_," said Twilight, sticking her tongue out and walking over to Ash and Fluttershy. "So, how are my two lovebirds doing?"

Ash looked up lazily and said "What? Sorry I wasn't paying attention," while Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her mane.

Ash grinned, looked at Twilight and said, "Hey Twi, so…you're a lightweight?"

After which commenced angry splutters and yells from the purple unicorn. Eventually, Ash ended up in the corner quite dizzy and with a killer headache, Fluttershy hovering near the ceiling half-amused by her friend's antics, and half- scared by those same antics. And Twilight was standing over Ash, looking straight into his eyes…

And kissed him.

(HAHA just kidding, that didn't happen. But what if it did?)

…and bonked him on the head with her hoof, saying "Never call me a lightweight, I just don't drink a lot!" 

(Yeah, it didn't)

Ash moaned and vaguely said something which was roughly translated as "fine." Fluttershy rushed to him and checked if he was okay. He was, but magically-induced headaches hurt. A lot. For about 2 hours. Fluttershy looked at Twilight, asking "Did you really have to do that?"

"He called me a lightweight!" protested Twilight.

"But…you are a lightweight," said Fluttershy.

"Yeah, it's true darling," put in Rarity.

"You're all against me now huh? I see how it is," complained Twilight.

"Yeah, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, that's been you guys with me since….ever since I got here!" said Ash.

"Fine, fine, truce?" offered Twilight, extending a hoof.

Ash looked at the hoof suspiciously, then hesitantly extended his hoof and said "Truce."

They looked each other in the eyes and took each other's hoof and shook.

"_If he thinks this is gonna stop me, he's in for a surprise," _thought Twilight.

"_I have ammunition now, and what's the point of having ammo if you're not gonna shoot it?" _thought Ash.

"So, we good?"

"We're good."

Just then, Rarity called Twilight, saying they had to get ready for the Hearth's Warming Eve play, whatever that was.

Ash had asked Fluttershy, and she had said just to watch the play and find out.

When evening hit, the trio of ponies and Ash left to the play, and he followed them, where he was promptly kicked out from backstage because the actors had to prepare. Muttering under his breath, he walked to his seat and sat down next to some fancy dressed ponies. Of course, before they had left, Rarity had given him a suit to wear, despite his insistence to pay for it, she refused to accept it, saying "A friend of Twilight and Fluttershy is a friend of mine, and this is how I help friends."

Ash wouldn't have said this after she had said something so nice, but he didn't really like wearing suits. He had worn them before of course, like during the Wallace Cup in Sinnoh, but he never really liked it.

"Guess I have to deal with it. Wonder if she would've made Pikachu a suit?"

Pikachu had randomly shown up with Starly at the boutique covered in something strange smelling and slightly smoky smelling as well. Ash found it better not to question, but sent him to Fluttershy's place with the rest of his Pokémon and left them there while he left.

"I hope they're doing okay…"

But before he could begin worrying, the play began, and Ash leaned forward and watched.

XXXX

He breathed in, and slowly breathed out. It was time. Through the scope, he saw the brown colt's head, and focused the crosshairs. They found their mark. He held his breath, steadied his stance, and….

He got his head abruptly jerked back from the scope and hit on the wall behind him.

"Ow, Celestia! What was that for?" complained Arceus, rubbing his head.

"What was it for? You were pretending you were shooting him through that scope for the past hour since that play was going on!" said Celestia.

"Well, I wasn't bothering anyone!"

"Anyone? There's no one here but you and me! And you annoyed me! _And_ you made these annoying "pew-pew" noises every time you pretended to shoot!"

"Oh? Well…you know what? I'm a God, so shut up."

"You are? Well, I'm an immortal alicorn with powers beyond your wildest dreams!" Celestia countered.

"Powers beyond my wildest dreams? Yeah right! If anything, my powers are so awesome, they're actually in your dreams just so you can see how awesome they are!" said Arceus right back.

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

"It doesn't have to! I'm a God, so shut up." Arceus said smugly and looked back through the scope.

"But- Wha- Oh forget this, I'm not going through this again. I'm going to the play to thank my little ponies." Celestia rose and flew off back into the realm of consciousness.

Arceus looked around, and seeing no one there, raised his front legs and standing on his hind legs, yelled "Victory!"

He then keeled over forwards, holding his front legs between his hind ones, and moaned in pain an octave higher than usual.

Celestia walked out from behind a cloud and summoned her golden shoe back, smirking as she walked up to the moaning Arceus.

"And that's why you don't annoy me Arcy," she said brightly as she patted his head with her hoof and returned to consciousness, flying over to the theatre just as the play finished.

XXXX

"Wow, you guys were awesome!" praised Ash.

"Thanks Ash!" said Fluttershy and Twilight.

Twilight said, "Oh Ash! Have you met the others yet? This is Applejack-" A orange pony with three apples as her cutie mark, a blond mane and a nice hat waved to him cheerfully- "Rainbow Dash-" A cyan blue pegasus with a cloud and rainbow lightning bolt as her cutie mark and a rainbow colored mane nodded in acknowledgment- "And Pinkie Pie-"

"Oh we've already met," interrupted Ash.

"You have? When?"

"This morning!"

"Well then, everypony, this is Ash!" said Twilight.

"Nice ter meet ya Ash!" said Applejack in what sounded like a southern Johto accent to Ash.

"Great time meetin' you Ash, but I think I see some of the Wonderbolts over there!" said Rainbow Dash, shaking his hand and leaving just as fast, leaving a rainbow colored trail.

"Wonderbolts?" asked Ash, turning to Fluttershy.

"They're a group of elite pegasus fliers that Dash adores. They're the best, and her dream is to be one of them," said Fluttershy.

"Huh…wonder what it would be like to have wings…" thought Ash as he pretended he had wings on his sides and attempted to feel what flapping would feel like.

Suddenly, a big pink pony leapt onto him and yelled "Ashy!"

"Pinkie I think? Pinkie, get off me!" demanded Ash, trapped beneath her.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye- Forget it, I have enough arguments without ones like these." Ash braced his forelegs and pushed Pinkie off of him with a squeal as she rolled into the crowd, knocking over a few ponies.

Twilight then walked up to him with a tired looking Fluttershy and asked "Can you take her home? I know you're bunking with her anyways, and since you're probably headed over there eventually, would you mind-"

"I got it Twilight, don't worry," said Ash reassuringly, propping up the half asleep Fluttershy next to him and slowly walked out the door.

"Wait! Here are some bits for a chariot back home!" yelled Twilight, floating a few bits to him.

"Got it!" he said, catching them and putting them in his pocket.

He called for a pegasus chariot, and carefully placing the now-asleep Fluttershy in the seat, he walked up to the driver, hoofed him the bits, and said "To Ponyville please."

He clambered up to the seat and sat next to Fluttershy as they took off. She shivered slightly, so he took off his jacket and placed it on her. She surprised him by moving closer and lying on him for warmth as well. His face reddened and he looked away, asking the driver to go a little faster.

From the ground, Twilight looked on, smiling and said "Mission accomplished."

XXXX

After about half an hour, the chariot landed, and Fluttershy and Ash got off. Ash thanked the pegasus while supporting Fluttershy, and walked her to her cottage. Opening the door, he whispered, "Pikachu? Starly? Charmander? Anyone-" before he saw his six Pokémon huddled together and sleeping soundly, along with some of the other animals in the cottage. Ash smiled at the bonds his Pokémon had formed so soon after arriving here, but a small snore interrupted his train of thought.

"Oh right, Fluttershy," thought Ash as he walked her. He looked up at the stairs he would have to try to climb without waking Fluttershy up, and thought "I hope she doesn't mind sleeping down here…I don't want to wake her up."

So, Ash brought her to the couch in front of the fireplace, and set a cheery fire in the fireplace, warming the place up. He gently placed her on the couch, put a blanket on her, and stood up to leave when he heard Fluttershy call "Ash!"

He turned to see Fluttershy looking at him with her blue eyes wide and asked "Can- Can you stay here?"

Ash looked surprised, but nodded and sat down next to her, leaning back. Fluttershy sat up for a second and leaned her head on Ash's shoulder, snuggling into his side. He was again surprised, but he didn't say anything. He glanced at the clock in the corner, and noticed it was just past 12. He placed a foreleg around Fluttershy and murmured, "Merry Hearth's Warming Fluttershy."

"We're just friends, and this is what friends do…" he thought to himself. "I don't like her any more than that."

"Merry Hearth's Warming Ash," whispered Fluttershy.

The two closed their eyes as they sat together, dozing off into dreamland. And although Ash's dreams were of feelings and confusion, to Fluttershy, she was already living a dream.


	7. Operation Awesome

There are two things I am sorry for in this chapter-

One: How it's so late.

Two: How it's so random.

However, I shall post it anyways and deal with my self-esteem and dignity later.

_Three weeks after Ash's disappearance- Pallet Town, Kanto_

While Ash was getting used to his new home, Professor Oak was getting used to a near-daily occurrence: having Delia Ketchum yell at him every second of every minute of every day. After all, an esteemed Pokémon professor like him can't stay out of the spotlight very long…especially if said professor managed to lose one of the Pokémon world's best trainers, current Kanto champion, and according to Lance, a potential Johto Elite 4 candidate all at once.

"Joy," muttered Oak.

"Yes Professor?" asked the red-haired nurse, striding into the room.

"Oh no, not you Joy, the phrase 'Joy,' you know…." Oak trailed off after seeing her blank look. "Ugh…What am I to do? I've managed to lose the Kanto champion, potential Elite,_ and _one of the best upcoming trainers the world has yet to see. All in one day, in the same day, in _this very _laboratory! And I wasn't even here!"

"Uh sir?" called a female assistant from the front of the lab.

"This is ridiculous! I've heard of Pokémon magic from Ghost Pokémon and the like, teleportation from the Psychic-types, but full-on disappearances? I've gotten almost the whole damn country searching for him, and no one's spotted a hair of him!" raged Oak. "No one just up and disappears! It's not scientifically possible! IT. CANNOT. HAPPEN!"

"Uh sir?"

"It has something to do with this book!" said a frustrated Oak, picking up the 'Nightmare' book and throwing it onto his desk. "This book is the root of all my problems! If I hadn't invited Ash over to see the thing, he wouldn't have disappeared!"

"Wait…." thought Oak, rifling through the book. "If the book could take him away, then maybe it could bring him back! Wait, I can't make heads or tails of this book…."

"SIR!"

"WHAT? What could possibly be more important than trying to get Ash back?"

"That's just it sir, there's a visitor that says they can help," responded the assistant.

Oak looked up in surprise. "Someone who could help? I've called all the professors from _every single known_ region….Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh…Heck, I even called in a few people from the Sevii Islands to check this book out! And not a single one has found anything! Anything! What makes this person _so_ confident about that they're better than some of the most brilliant minds in the world?"

"I don't know sir. They're just very insistent on helping," said the assistant apologetically.

Oak sighed resignedly. "Very well, let them in."

The assistant turned to the door and motioned for the visitor to come in. The visitor strode in, and Oak took account of the man's appearance. He was quite tall, almost six and a half feet, and well-built. What Oak found odd though was his skin color, which was almost pure white, and his eyes, which glowed amber…with what though? Power? Oak wasn't sure whether to trust this stranger or not, but he had to admit to himself, he was left with no choice. He had no real leads, no possible suspects…nothing. This visit might be literally all he had left if he ever wanted to see Ash again.

"Good morning," said Oak, extending his hand.

"Morning," rumbled the man as he sat down next to Oak. Was it just Oak, or did his voice sound….powerful? It was like one of those voices that knew much more than they let on with wisdom beyond their years. But that was utter nonsense; the man in front of him looked less than 30! Oak continued-

"So…I hear you have information for me, Mr…?"

"Archie" said the man promptly.

"Archie, okay. So, you have information on the whereabouts of Ash Ketchum?" Oak bluntly asked.

"Eeyup," responded Archie.

"Well, are you going to tell me?"

"Nnope."

"Nope? What do you mean, nope?" asked Oak angrily, his temper growing rather rapidly "You've come here from Arceus-knows-where to give me information to help find Ash, and now that you're here, you're saying you won't tell me? NOPE? And if you say 'Eeyup' in response, I swear I will get a dull knife and castrate your…"

"Sorry, it's a habit I picked up from watching this guy," replied Archie nonchalantly. Oak raised an eyebrow at the statement. One would think threats to be castrated were to be taken seriously, but apparently with this man, they weren't. "I meant on TV. Yeah, cause' that's what I do. Watch TV. About ponie- I mean people! Yeah…"

"Wait, did he just say ponies?" thought the professor. But before he could think about it more, he was interrupted with a slight cough.

Oak looked at him annoyingly, and Archie realized he was supposed to say something. "Well, I _do_ know someone who can help you."

"Really, who? Is it a professor? Cause' they've all been _soo _helpful" asked Oak sardonically.

"No, but you've got to go to the Sevii Islands to find out," replied the man coolly.

"I've been to the Sevii Islands! I've had people brought here! I've sent people there! They didn't know anything!" bellowed Oak, turning and kicking one of his chairs over. He turned again and yelled, "And you expect-"

But the man was gone. Not just hiding gone or walking out the door gone, but full-on…gone.

"What..? Where'd he go? He's pulled an Ash Ketchum on me," muttered Oak. "That man was an idiot…" he sighed. "But that's the only lead I've got. Time to hit the road… or sea..."

As Oak walked out of the lab, the light near the fallen chair shimmered as Archie reappeared. "Time to shed this restrictive human body," he muttered, and in a flash of light, he reappeared as none other than the majestic Arceus, rubbing his head where the chair had struck him. "Well, that should help Oak take his mind off things a little," Arceus said. He walked into a secluded room away from the lab and summoned a mirror spell. Looking into it, he saw the throne room of the Royal Equestrian Princesses, with Celestia bored and sitting on her throne, playing with her magic.

He coughed, but it seemed Celestia didn't seem to hear him. Arceus leaned around and noticed she seemed to be playing with two dolls, but he couldn't quite make out the features. They were both white quadruped dolls though, and soon Celestia began to play and talk with them. Arceus, eager to avoid whatever awkwardness this could have led to, called "CELESTIA!"

She jumped in her seat and searched frantically for the source of the voice while simultaneously stowing her dolls away under her throne. She soon spotted Arceus waving at her from the spell, and trotted over to him. He began to talk-

"Hey, I got Oak to lay off Ash's case. He should get better after he returns from the Sevii Islands."

"Well that's good. What'll he find?" questioned Celestia.

"A 5-star hotel and the works waiting for him. I sent Delia on the way earlier as well. Least I could do…I don't know why, but I feel that Ash isn't meant to return until whatever sent him to your dimension chooses so. Hopefully, this can keep Oak and Delia from trying to find Ash and panicking. _And _possibly resolve all that sexual tension between them," mused Arceus.

"Arceus!" shouted Celestia while blushing.

"Have you seen those two? What do you think they're doing while Ash is always on his journeys? They talk all the time! It's kinda inevitable."

He then heard an abrupt noise in the room he'd left, and immediately changed into his human form. He muttered "But seriously, do you think we should send Ash back until whatever he was supposed to do is done?"

Celestia nodded her approval, and then stared at Arceus. Arceus stared back at her.

This went on for about 2 minutes before Arceus broke the silence. "Why are you staring at me, anyways?"

"Oh, it's been quite a while since I've seen humankind," responded Celestia. "Of course, this was back when my mother had taken Luna and me on a trip through some dimensions…"

"Hold on, you could take dimension trips? I thought we established that neither of us is able to do that!"

"Well, you must realize that my mother was one of the oldest beings in the known world," said Celestia matter-of-factly.

"Well….I basically _am _of the oldest beings in _my_ known world! And I should know, I was there when the world was being put in being! Why can't I travel dimensions?" whined Arceus.

"Don't ask me…maybe you're doing it wrong?" Celestia contemplated. "For all you know, you could be able to, but you're not doing it right. I however, know for a fact that I am unable to."

"Darn…..well, its okay," comforted Arceus. "I'm probably not able to either. But if it means anything, if it could, I'd take you dimension hopping."

"Thanks," she said as she smiled at him, leaving Arceus feeling strange. It was a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, seemingly spawned from Celestia's reaction. Not knowing what it meant though, he cast it aside, and recalled a question he had meant to ask earlier. "Hey, can you tell me how to do that mass memory erasure spell again?"

"You're going to try to wipe the whole country's mind?" asked Celestia, shocked, immediately catching on to his thoughts.. "Are you mad?"

"Well, I was aiming for the world, but still…"

"Arceus, if I could slap you through this thing I would," threatened Celestia, waving her golden-clad hoof for emphasis. "Why would you do something that stupid? Do you realize how much power you'd need? You'd probably die!"

"No, it's not what you're thinking! It'd just be a temporary memory block simply to restrict thoughts of Ash being gone from entering people's minds. I wouldn't try to wipe everyone's mind clean of anything to do with him…do you know how many people the boy has met?" protested Arceus. "It's ridiculous! It's like the boy is a people magnet!"

"I know, he's managed to meet _so _many people here and become friends with them! It's kind of absurd," agreed Celestia. She then thought about what Arceus was planning to do. "Well, okay then," she replied reluctantly. Arceus leaned towards the mirror as Celestia whispered how to do the spell, and Arceus nodded. Steadying himself, he harnessed the power of his elements. Sending his golden wheels spinning, he gathered all his energy and focused. Light radiated throughout the god, and washed over the continents from Kanto to Sinnoh, and eventually went out, leaving an exhausted Arceus behind and citizens of each continent slightly dazed and confused about Ash Ketchum.

"Well, did it work?" asked Celestia skeptically.

"Well, let's see," responded Arceus. He transformed back into his human form and looked around for one of Oak's assistants. "Excuse me, have you seen Ash Ketchum?"

"The Kanto Champion? I wish, all I've seen of him is on my TV. He's probably at his mother's house down the way over there." said the female assistant, pointing out the window.

"Excellent!" said Arceus.

"What is?"

"What? Oh, nothing! I just happen to like knowing where Ash Ketchum is and who he lives with!" he said cheerily.

The assistant looked at him weirdly, her face expressing confusion and a bit of disgust. Finally, Arceus realized he sounded like a preteen stalker and hurriedly said "Gotta go, nice talking to you!" before rushing away.

"Well?" asked Celestia from her end.

He answered her question as he said, "Well, it worked! Complete success! Everyone from the mountains of Sinnoh to the deep oceans of Kanto knows nothing about Ash Ketchum even being gone. As far as they're concerned, he's spending time at his mother's house in Pallet Town. Excellent spell to use Celestia, thanks!"

"Oh yay, it worked!" said Celestia. "So the assistant you talked to, she didn't know anything? You didn't talk?"

"Well we talked a little, and she thought Ash wasn't missing. She also said-" before Arceus cut himself off.

"Continue Arceus," said Celestia, motioning a hoof. "What did she say? Did she say anything particular?"

"Well…..I may have accidentally given insinuations that I'm a crazy stalker after Ash, " said Arceus hesitantly.

Celestia looked at him incredulously while Arceus stared at the floor, slowly shifting his weight and sliding his foot across the ground. Eventually, he gathered up his courage to see if she was still staring at him when he heard Celestia's laugh. His head whipped up and glared at her in the face for a few seconds, but seeing her face, he broke down and started laughing as well.

"Smooth Arceus…smooth," giggled Celestia. "I'm surprised she's not camping outside his house just watching for you!"

As he would later find out, she was.

"But I had to! She might have suspected me for-"

"What? A ponyrazzi? An assassin? Both?" listed Celestia. "Mind you, these are just off the top of my head."

"What? No! She wouldn't think I'm any of those! But I couldn't compromise my identity! If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's-"

"Always put the toilet seat back down?"

"N-no! Shut up! It's that your identity is the most important thing to protect! And the toilet thing? That's only happened _once_. Do you realize how scary an annoyed (well, more annoyed than she is usually) Giratina when she confronts you about a toilet? Not only is it a ridiculous thing to get mad about, but it's its _freakin' _Giratina! As much as I hate to admit, she sometimes can scare the hell out of a mon'. "

Celestia retorted, "The toilet thing is common courtesy! Not everyone can stand and use the bathroom like males can!"

"That's a stupid argument from the mare that plays with dolls," countered Arceus. Celestia blushed and turned away from Arceus to hide it, but Arceus caught it anyways. "Ha! I win!"

They eventually said their goodbyes, with Arceus teleporting to his home in the Hall, and Celestia closing the spell and walking back to her quarters. But before she left, she ducked under the throne and pulled out her dolls. Hiding them under her wing, she walked back to her room and shut the door. She sat down on her hindquarters and pulled them out from her wings, and once again began playing with the two dolls. This time she gave them voices.

"I love you Tia! I want to be with you forever!" she said in a low voice, shaking a four-legged figure with golden wheels along its back.

"I love you too Arcy," said the other, an alicorn with an ethereal mane of colors.

"You two should get a room already," said another voice into her ear.

Celestia whipped her head around and saw the source of the voice. "Who- Luna!" she yelled as she ran after her as Luna galloped down the hall, laughing hysterically all the while.

It had been three weeks since Ash had walked out of the Everfree forest and into Ponyville, and three weeks since his life had been completely changed. His Pokémon were all first stages, he was a pony, he could talk with other ponies… it was completely new and different.

And he loved every second of it.

That morning before he had read that book, he had reminisced about going on a new adventure just like he had back when he was ten. No ideas, no plan, just winging it and making the best of it. Well, here he was. He had gotten his wish.

Ash yawned as he got up from his bed and stretched his arms and neck, sighing in relief.

Although he must admit he did miss his family and friends….but it was just like a new journey. He had to leave some things behind to make way for the new. And he had found some new and wonderful things! Hopefully though, it was still possible to return home. Arceus had said that he had to stay there because something wanted him there, but what if this "something" didn't want him to leave?

Muttering, he cast the thought away and rubbed his eyes.

"Morning guys," he said, rubbing the half-asleep Pikachu with a hoof. Pikachu gave a contented sigh, and Ash stood up to pat his other sleeping Pokémon and went outside.

"Hey Ash!"

"Hey Fluttershy, morning! Beautiful day, huh?"

"It is a wonderful day," said Fluttershy, glancing out the window and seeing the clear blue sky, not a single cloud and feeling the warm sun. Dash had done well with her crew.

"Looks like Dash actually woke from her nap and felt guilty for all us lowly mortals," said Ash jokingly. Fluttershy giggled, remembering when Ash and Rainbow first hung out.

_Flashback- A week after the play_

"Hey! Rainbow!"

"Huh?"

The cyan pegasus turned around on her cloud and saw a vaguely familiar earth pony rushing down the road towards her. She leapt off and swooped down to the pony.

"Now…who are you? You're not a Wonderbolt, no wings. Not a fan…well maybe. I have way too many of those to keep track of… oh! You're Ash! Right…that's why you looked vaguely familiar!"

"Yeah, good job….well, Fluttershy's busy with her animals, but she wanted me to give you this," Ash said, pulling a box out of his saddlebag and holding it out to her in his teeth.

"Huh? Wonder what it is…" pondered Rainbow, hovering in thought.

"Uh, ethcuthe me?

"Can't be money, Fluttershy never gambles…"

"Ethcuthe me?"

"Can't be a book, I didn't lend her one…"

"HEY!" yelled Ash, dropping the package onto the ground. Rainbow Dash whirled on him and yelled-

"WHAT! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M THINKING!"

"WELL, CAN'T YOU TAKE THE STUPID PACKAGE!"

"TAKE IT? YEAH I'LL TAKE IT! I'LL TAKE IT AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR-"

"YOU WANNA FINISH THAT SENTENCE TOUGH GUY! ER…GIRL?"

Rainbow Dash glared at Ash, who glared equally venomously back. There was only one way to solve this dispute…

"Race you to that tree!"

"Go!"

Leaping into the air, Dash…well dashed off to the tree, leaving a sprinting Ash not too far behind. She reached out her hoof and slapped the tree, hovering to a stop and turning to face Ash.

"Ha! What a slowpoke!" taunted Dash, despite the fact that Ash was on her tail almost the whole race. But that wasn't important.

"A slowpoke huh?" said Ash, imagining the pink Pokémon, and taking slight offense. "Well let's see how brave you are running on the ground!"

"No wings?"

"No wings."

Rainbow mulled it over. On one hoof, she hated not being able to fly, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was a little slower on the ground. That race with Applejack had shown it. On the other hoof, she loved beating other ponies, and if this guy was so slow earlier, how hard can it be?

"Let's do this."

"From here to Ponyville? Got it?" said Ash, pointing north to Ponyville. Rainbow nodded.

The two lined up side by side, Rainbow locking her wings to her side, and Ash bouncing in preparation, shaking his legs and loosening up.

"Float like a Beautifly, sting like a Beedrill," muttered Ash to himself.

"Oh, excuse me?" he called to a passing brown pony with an hourglass cutie mark.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind saying 'go' for us?"

"But you've just said it! Why on Equestria would you need me to say it again?"

"Wha-? Forget it, just say go."

"Fine then. Go!"

Ash and Rainbow bolted off the line as the brown pony turned and walked the other way, muttering "Derpy said she parked it somewhere around here…How hard can it be to lose a big blue police box? I mean, come on…I'm not even sure they have police in this dimension…"

Rainbow glanced to her side and noticed a determined Ash keeping up. "Wow, this guy's fast! Better pick up the pace," she thought, cranking up the speed.

Meanwhile, Ash looked and saw Dash speeding up. "Uh uh, no way am I losing to this filly! I'd normally let it slide, but she challenged me! Well, technically, we challenged each other at the same time, but- Arceus, I'm behind!" Ash pumped his legs furiously, catching up to the cyan pegasus and smirking at her apparent surprise.

Rainbow looked up and saw the outline of the entry to Ponyville, and smirked. "I got this," she thought. Well, it was the last thing she thought before she saw a brown blur pass her and bolt into the town.

She skidded to a halt and fell over onto her side. Ash turned around after cheering and looked back at her. Rushing over to her, he pulled her up and asked concernedly "Hey, you okay?"

All he got in response was an open-mouthed look of shock and…awe?

"Uh, Rainbow? Rainbow? Anyone home?" said Ash, waving his hoof in front of her face. She shook her head and then glared at him fiercely.

"Whoa! Back off, what did I do?"

"There is no way you could run that fast ever! No one is faster than the Dash. My name is D-A-S-H. It's the literal definition of speed! How'd you do it?" demanded Rainbow, stepping closer to him and putting a hoof in his face.

"Well…"Ash said nervously backing away, "running from all the things I have to like giant robots and stampeding Tauros and Beedrill I suppose has to give me some speed…."

"Tauros and Beedrill?"

"Argh, I forgot! Here they're called buffalo and bees."

"You're that fast from running away from those? Well…I can see the buffalo, but bees? Really?" asked Rainbow, shaking her head.

"Bees are scary when they're almost as big as you," Ash deadpanned. "And besides, I'm a Pokémon trainer; I have to train a lot with my Pokémon as well."

"I suppose that makes it _okay_. So, although you cheated-"

"Yeah-wait, what?"

"-I will give you the win for this race because I feel sympathetic for you and your monumental slowness. And I demand a future rematch."

"But- Wha- Argh, forget it!" yelled Ash, stomping away. Rainbow grinned and flew back up to her cloud, placing her forehooves behind her head and laying back.

"Haha, it's gonna be fun messing with that kid…Rainbow, you sneaky mastermind!"

She looked at the package Ash had brought her. "Oh yeah, this thing? Wonder what it is?" Rainbow pulled off the paper and opened it. "Aww yeah, more awesome! Cookies!"

_End Flashback_

Ash smiled, remembering that day. Then frowned after remembering she had called him a cheater.

"If anything, she was the cheater, saying that I was the cheater…" Ash muttered. "Stupid cheating ponies…."

"Well, look at the two of you now! You're both great friends!" consoled Fluttershy.

It was true. Ash and Rainbow's competitive spirits, just like Rainbow and Applejack's, had managed to click and the two became good friends and rivals.

Ash then did a double-take. "Wait, you gave her cookies?"

"Well…yes…she likes cookies. Is that a bad thing?"

"_In a normal situation, no. But with what me and Rainbow have planned…" _Ash thought.

"You've fraternized with the enemy! Fluttershy …. Do you realize what you've done?" wailed Ash, on his knees and hooves raised.

"Um…give her cookies?" peeped Fluttershy nervously as she looked for a way to escape the room and figure out what she did.

"You've given Dash a reason to invade! She knows we have cookies!" exclaimed Ash. "Now, you have to listen to my next instructions to the letter. Do you understand? _To the letter._"

"Squeak…um, invade?"

"Yes invade!"

"Eep…okay."

"Okay! Private Fluttershy! Attention!" barked Ash. Fluttershy winced slightly at his change of tone. "I need you to procure as many pillows, blankets, and mattresses that you can find. Understand?"

"Um…yes Ash- I mean sir- I mean..."

She trailed off then, seeing Ash with an expectant look on his face.

After bringing back most of her bedroom as well as the pillows and blanket from the couch and basement, she looked at Ash and asked, "Why exactly do we need all this?"

He placed a hoof on her shoulder, making her blush from the contact. "The time has come when we must prepare, my little pink and yellow friend…for war."

"W-War?"

"Yes Fluttershy, it is time. We must build…a fort."

_1200- Hostiles sighted_

Multiple propped up mattresses, five pillows, seven blankets, and an epic bunker later, Ash and Fluttershy huddled around the peephole they had made, and looked to the outside.

"Private Fluttershy, we may be outnumbered here. The enemy has the upper hand, but we have the element. The element of-"

"Kindness?" quipped Fluttershy.

"What? No, not kindness. Where'd you get that from?"

"Oh…well you see…I'm the element of kindness…and well….*squeak*…"

"Oh I see," nodded Ash in understanding. Twilight had explained this to him too. More or less at least about the Elements of Harmony. He'd have to ask more about that later, but he wasn't looking forward to watching Twilight use a whole bunch of big words he didn't understand. "Well, the element we have isn't the element of kindness, although that's a good element to have. No, what we have is the element of surprise!"

"Oh that element…" nodded Fluttershy understandingly. "Wait, who are we surprising? From a fort?"

"You'll understand soon enough Private. Soon enough…"

He glanced through the window and spotted tangos approaching. "Private! Battle stations! Enemy incoming!" he yelled, hefting a pillow in his hoof.

Fluttershy cringed at his loud yell, but gripped a pillow anyways. "Wait, aren't Twilight and the others coming over toda-"

"FIRE!" yelled Ash, flinging a pillow at the opening doorway and catching an unsuspecting purple unicorn in the face.

"What-!" was the last thing she said before spinning dizzily and falling to the floor.

"Haha! Boom, headshot!" crowed Ash.

"Ash, what are you doing?" panicked Fluttershy, fearing Ash had gone mad and hurt her friends. "I can't let you throw those!" She reached out and yanked a pillow out from Ash's hooves to find out it was nice and soft. She pulled it over her head and curled up in the corner until it was over.

Ash turned towards her after having obliterated the weak offensive laid down by the five mares. He'd nailed Twilight on the side, hit Applejack with one which proceeded to bounce and impale itself on Rarity's horn, and threw one straight at Pinkie who managed to eat it. Quite literally, open her mouth and eat it. Rainbow hadn't shown up. But Ash expected that, for what he and Rainbow had discussed earlier.

"_Okay, don't show up for the first part. I don't want the others to suspect anything, so it'll be a complete surprise. But do come for the rest."_

"_How do you even know they'll come back after that?"_

"_It's Twilight. She wouldn't let this slide."_

"…_.the egghead wouldn't, would she? Okay then, I'll be there."_

"_Good."_

"Cowards! Run! The FaAFoA will stand forever!" cried Ash gleefully, watching the mares retreat and huddle, occasionally glaring back at Ash and muttering annoyingly.

"Um…Ash? What was that?" peeped Fluttershy cautiously as she moved from her corner.

"Oh, the acronym? It's Fluttershy and Ash's Fortress of Awesomeness!"

"No, I mean why'd you throw pillows at my friends?"

"You mean…you don't know what that was?" asked Ash perplexed. "It was a pillow fight. From a pillow fort…You mean you've never had one before? Or seen a pillow fort?"

"Um…no…"

"Private!" gasped Ash. "How…how could you let this happen? I can't lead you into battle inexperienced! Today Shy', I'm going to teach you how to live!"

Fluttershy went stock-still. Ash waved his hoof in front of her "Guess she's just scared. Don't worry Private, we'll get through this!" he yelled, pulling her along to the back of the fort.

But, all that was running through Fluttershy's mind: "He called me Shy'…"

_1300- Three tangos spotted_

"So Private, said Ash, marking the hastily paper. "You cover this area. I'll cover here. Got it?"

Fluttershy saluted. "Yes Ash! I mean sir! I mean…what exactly do I mean?"

"Just Ash is good."

"Okay Ash!"

Ash smiled and turned away, seeing Starly flutter back down. He'd sent the bird out scouting for the mares, since it was obvious that they would never let Ash get away with that, and Starly had returned with news of an imminent counter-attack. He fished out some binoculars and looked out the windows, seeing Twilight and Rarity scouting ahead as well. It obviously wasn't going so well, considering how Rarity was complaining about the dirt from the bushes they were hiding in quite loudly. Almost too loudly…..

Ash turned around and thanked Starly, and returned the bird to the Pokéball. A battlefield was no place for a young Pokémon. Well, ignoring the fact that they had all not been so young for some years, but still…

"Private, we have an attack on its way. You ready to make our stand?" Ash said, pulling himself up.

"Yes Ash!" said Fluttershy, preparing herself for the battle and sending her animals outside the house for the moment.

And so they waited.

All of a sudden, the door burst open and a large box ran in, with four pairs of pink and blue legs underneath it. The pink legs then bumped into the blue ones, and both pairs went down.

"Geez Pinkie, watch it! We're supposed to take down the fort, not each other!" complained the blue legs, Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry Dashie, but this is so fun!" squealed the pink pony, driving her legs forward and crashing again. "Look, even Twilight is having fun!"

"Drive me closer!" yelled Twilight from on top of the box, waving a foam sword. "I want to hit them with my sword!"

"Can do Twilight!"

"Okie dokie!"

The trio sped towards the fort, and Ash braced against the other side, holding off their penetration into the fortress while flinging pillows over the top.

"Fluttershy, a hand here?" Ash yelled. After hearing no response, he called again. "Fluttershy? Private?"

Just then, he felt a small filly leg pull his from the ground and trap his back legs, knocking him down with an "Oof!" Another trapped his forelegs, and another sat on his back. He counted three little ones holding him down. Weird, he never remembered meeting any fillies while he was here…except for the-

Ash's eyes widened. "Oh no…"

"Cutie Mark Crusader Fortress Infiltrators!" the three fillies yelled, holding down Ash. He sighed, after remembering how he met the three. He'd met them after an awkward incident involving him, Fluttershy, the three fillies, some hay, carrots, and tree sap.

_Four days before_

"So Fluttershy, what do you want to do today?"

"Hmm…well, it is market day. You want to go down to Ponyville and just browse?"

"Cool. Let's do it!"

Ash grabbed his backpack and Pokéballs, and he and Fluttershy walked in relative peace to the market, chatting amiably about the weather and their friends.

"So how's Rainbow and Tank doing?" wondered Ash.

"Oh, Tank adores his new home! Although I assume he may have had a _tiny_ problem adjusting with, you know, living on a cloud. Good thing Twilight knew that spell for cloud-walking!" responded Fluttershy.

Ash nodded and then turned to see the market.

"Wow, we're already here! That was fast."

"It was! Well, they do say time flies when you're having fun."

"Agreed."

Wandering around the market and browsing through the stalls, Ash noticed a small bonsai tree in the corner of one of the stalls specializing in plants. Leaving Fluttershy alone for the moment, he walked to the stall and began speaking with the owner, a fairly dark green unicorn with a watering can as a cutie mark.

"Excuse me, miss…Leafy Green," asked Ash politely, glancing at the name tag. "How much is this tree?"

"Depends. Make me an offer," she said.

"Hmm… how about 10 bits?"

"15."

"12?" he asked.

"Deal," she said, enveloping the tree in green magic and giving it to him.

"Great!" said Ash, slinging the tree over his shoulder into his bag. "This'll be perfect for-"

As soon as he placed it in however, Fluttershy appeared, grabbed him, and began pushing him to the center of town.

"Whoa!" said Ash frantically as his hooves crossed and he tripped, with Fluttershy falling onto him. He blushed slightly, but Fluttershy kept moving, dragging him along through the dirt and dust.

After a few more painful minutes, they arrived in the town square, where Fluttershy finally released Ash, who rolled and came to a stop.

"Ooww….Fluttershy, was that really necessary?"

"Oh, are you okay? I'm sorry, but I really needed you to come with me, and I guess I didn't notice how I brought you here! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," responded Ash, dusting himself off. "So…why are we here?"

"Well this is Sugarcube Corner! You know, where Pinkie lives?"

"Oh yeah…Wait, why are we going inside?"

"Just go!" she said as she pushed him through the doors.

"SURPRISE! WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!" yelled the crowd of ponies in the room. Ash leapt back in surprise and fell onto Fluttershy with an "Eep!" Then, a tub of tree sap tumbled down from the doorway and fell on the duo.

"Pfft!" spat Ash, trying to get the sap out of his mouth. "What was that for?" he said, glancing upwards.

"Scootaloo, you were supposed to dump the confetti!" said a small white and pink unicorn.

"Hey, sorry, but why is there even a bucket of tree sap here?" responded an orange pegasus (who Ash assumed was Scootaloo) with a purple mane.

"Ah dunno, but Ah guess we're not 'Cutie Mark Surprise Party Planners' after all," sighed the third sadly, a yellow and red earth filly.

"Well, we should be gettin' down now," said Scootaloo, stepping towards a nearby ladder "Come on Applebloom , Sweetie Belle."

Sadly, the trio failed to notice where some things were, and managed to knock over a hay bale and a crate of carrots, which Ash swore fell in slow motion and covered him and Fluttershy.

"Oops….sorry," said Applebloom.

"Yeah, real sorry!"

Ash got up and glared at the three fillies, but after seeing them with their wide and innocent eyes, he crumbled and excused himself to get clean. After issuing a hasty apology, Fluttershy followed, cleaned herself, and sat next to Ash while he wiped his face with a towel.

"You okay Ash?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," he replied. "Hey, you still have a little tree sap there."

He reached over with the towel and wiped her face gently. Fluttershy blushed and tried to turn away, but Ash firmly held her head and said "It's still there, give me a second!"

Eventually, the sap came off, but not after some intensive towel rubbing and blushing on both parts. The two walked out and ran into Pinkie, who immediately said, "Why are you two blushing? And why'd you come out of the bathroom? Ooh, I bet you two were being naughty!"

Both of them that day had found out that their faces held a lot more blood than they realized as the implications hit them, and Ash wondered if he could sic Charmander on her and hide the body quickly enough so that no one would notice…

Finally, the two's faces faded to their normal color, and the party went on, with Ash having an awesome time, Fluttershy chatting with her friends, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders lying on the ground spent after Ash put some _spices _on their food.

_End Flashback_

"Noooo…what have you done to the private?" moaned Ash.

"You mean Fluttershy? She's right there!" smirked Scootaloo, pointing to the doorway behind the fort, where Fluttershy held it open and waved at Ash with a smile.

"Fluttershy? Help me out here!" Ash pleaded.

Fluttershy slowly shook her head, her wide blue eyes showing nothing but innocence. "I'm sorry. I can't do that Ash."

Ash knew better than to believe that…but her eyes! It was like they were staring into his very soul..

"But…what-"

"Fluttershy's on the winning side now!" shouted Applebloom, raising her hoof in the air for Fluttershy. She smiled and hoofed her back.

"You evil mastermind..." muttered Ash.

The front of the Fortress of Awesomeness broke down, and the pony/tank crashed through in a heap. Twilight and Dash leapt up, leaving Pinkie to her own devices within the box. Twilight thought that was kind of strange, but as much as she hated to admit it…boxes were fun. After studying of course. And reading. And talking to Princess Celestia about studying and reading.

Twilight raised her sword and pointed it at Ash. "Ash Ketchum, do you surrender?"

"To you? Never!" shouted Ash, trying to leap up only to find the fillies and Fluttershy straddling his back.

Dash snickered at Fluttershy's burning face from touching Ash, and Twilight looked at Ash again. "Are you sure? You are outnumbered, outponied, and outgunned from every single angle. Your fortress has been destroyed, your sergeant turned against you-"

"Private."

"-your allies non- wait what?"

"She's a private. I planned to promote her after the battle, assuming we survived the onslaught." Ash clarified.

"Oh. Well, do you relinquish control of the fortress to the Twilight Team?"

"Twilight Team? Since when?" asked a surprised Rainbow Dash, turning to Twilight. "When did we name the team?"

"Just now," Twilight answered smugly.

"Well, I'm thinking we should call ourselves Dash's Destroyers! Sounds cooler than the Twilight Team at least!"

"But I coordinated the brilliantly successful counter-attack!" protested Twilight.

"After like an hour of drawing! And all you did in the actual attack was get on top of the box and wave your sword! I actually pushed us in!" retorted Rainbow.

"Not without my help!" called Pinkie from her box. She poked her head out of the box with a huge smile and looked at the reader. "Hey, maybe you can help!"

Twilight and Dash ceased their argument to look at Pinkie, then the direction she was looking at, and then back at Pinkie. "Who are you talking to?" asked Twilight.

"The readers silly!" laughed Pinkie. "So what do you think our team should be named? I'm thinking the Pie Squad! Or the Cake-Eaters! _Or _the Cake-Eating Pie Squad! Or Fred!"

Again, Twilight and Rainbow stopped bickering to look at Pinkie. "Fred?" said Rainbow disbelievingly, raising her hoof to her face.

Pinkie raised her hooves in the air and shrugged. "Haters gonna hate," she said as she retreated into her box.

Rainbow turned back to Twilight and was about to begin arguing again before stopping.

"Ah, so I've won?" asked Twilight. "Good, so the Twilight Team it is! Now Ash you cowardly knave, once again, do you renounce your dominion-"

That was all she got to before she felt another foam blade across her throat.

"I don't think so."

XXXX

"But how'd you get free?" yelped Twilight. Dash was in a similar situation, held by an unknown assailant. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were sitting on Pinkie's box as the pony underneath protested loudly. "Also, where'd you get a sword?"

"Oh, it was elementary, my dear ponies," said Ash. "Well first, I got the sword from you while you and Rainbow were arguing about something, but I wasn't really listening. But you see, your plan revolved around Fluttershy's betrayal and her double agent moves, correct?"

Twilight nodded glumly with Rainbow.

"Well, I bet you didn't count on Fluttershy being a double-double agent!" said Ash.

As usual, Dash didn't get it. "Wait, what?"

Twilight turned to Dash, still held under captive by Ash. "Fluttershy betrayed him to help us, and then betrayed us to help him. It was one elaborate scheme! We thought we were tricking them, and yet they were tricking us!"

Dash slowly understood as Pinkie rattled in her box and moved around like a turtle, giving the Crusaders a fun ride. Good thing she had thought of cutting holes in the box to see and breathe.

"So wait, where's Fluttershy now?" asked Rainbow. Ash smiled and motioned towards Rainbow's attacker. "Well?"

Revealing her pink mane and butter-yellow fur, Fluttershy looked at Dash and grinned sheepishly.

"Wow…who would've thought…" pondered Rainbow. "Twilight's plan getting blown to bits, us getting captured by Ash and Fluttershy no less, and Pinkie's stuck under a box by the Crusaders…"

"Actually, that last one seems kind of reasonable," reasoned Twilight. The room collectively nodded. The box shook its approval as well.

"Yep…well, Twilight. Do you yield?" Ash asked.

"Sigh…yes Ash, I surrender," Twilight said resignedly.

"And Rainbow?" Ash asked.

She nodded in agreement.

"Pinkie?"

A muffled "Mmmhmm" came from the box.

"I assume that is a yes. So….Fluttershy," Ash said, motioning for her to come closer.

"Yes?" she said, trotting to him.

He leapt up and hugged her. "WE WIN! FLUTTERSHY AND ASH'S FORTRESS OF AWESOMENESS LIVES ON!" He glanced at the broken fort. "IN MEMORY!"

Fluttershy squealed silently in glee at the contact, and her face radiated more heat than Charmander on a diet of jalapeno peppers. Twilight and Rainbow saw their friend's face and laughed outright, falling to the floor. The Crusaders saw them laughing and began as well, and soon everypony was laughing. Even Pinkie. Well, her box was kind of just shaking again, but everypony assumed it was laughing.

"I have a question though," said Twilight. "What did you guys do with Applejack and Rarity? They were gonna storm you guys from the back with the Crusaders."

"Applejack and Rarity? Nope, haven't seen them. You?" Ash asked, looking towards Fluttershy, She shook her head no. "Huh, nopony in here's seen them."

"Where are they anyways?" thought Rainbow.

_Meanwhile, outside_

"You first!"

"No, you I insist!"

"Ladies first Rarity!"

"Well that logic works both ways Applejack! You may go first!"

They glared at each other and sighed.

"Neither o' the two o' us wants ta go in there, huh?"

Rarity shuddered. "Heavens no! Ever since that experience at Twilight's with pillow fights, I'm not sure I'd ever want to be in one ever again!"

Applejack nodded in agreement. "Yep…a pillow is a gosh darn weapon o' mass destruction, that's what them things are."

_Back inside the house- 1500 hours_

"Well, whatever! We won! HA!" crowed Ash in victory, high-hoofing the Crusaders and Fluttershy.

"Yeah yeah, we know, don't rub it in…" complained Dash as she and Twilight walked away, pulling Pinkie and the Crusaders in their box. "But I've got to admit, that was the most fun I've had in a long time Ash!" Twilight's gleeful face showed her approval as well. She nudged Fluttershy. "Try to keep him around, he's awesome!"

Fluttershy blushed and Twilight trotted up to Rainbow and the two began talking animatedly. Pinkie just whooped and squealed as she was dragged in her box by the two mares. Fluttershy turned to Ash and asked "Well, now that that's done…what now?"

"What now?" asked Ash. "Huh…I'm not actually sure. That was kinda my game plan for the day. And it's only like 4! So what do you think we should do?"

"Well….would you like to…nevermind," said Fluttershy, biting her lip.

"No, what Fluttershy?" Ash asked, tapping her shoulder.

"Well…_wouldyouliketocomeupstairs_?" said Fluttershy in a flash, then covered her mouth up.

Ash's eyes widened, and then he nodded. "You sure?"

She nodded as well. "Please?"

Ash laid his Pokémon belt on a nearby chair, and then the two went upstairs to Fluttershy's room.

XXXX

"Okay, you know what? It doesn't sound too bad. And it's been about like an hour! It has to be over. They're probably just talking now," said Rarity.

"True Rar', but should we go in?"

"Better now than later."

"Ah suppose."

Applejack pushed open the door and the two crept inside silently to a clean, warfare-free, and empty living room.

"Huh, who would've thought? Everypony's gone," muttered Applejack.

"Oh, looks like we missed the big battle…" said Rarity halfheartedly. "Well, I guess we should go home."

"Yeah, I gue-" Rarity put a hoof to Applejack's muzzle and motioned for her to be quiet. Applejack pulled her hoof off and muttered, "What's with that? And why does your hoof taste like marshmallow?"

Rarity shushed her again, and said "I can hear somepony upstairs," completely ignoring the second question.

Applejack began to hear murmurs as well, and strained her ears to hear. The duo climbed the stairs slowly and silently, and the talk became louder as well.

"You sure you want to do this Fluttershy?"

"Yes Ash I'm absolutely positive. And I'd rather do this with you than with any other pony."

Rarity turned to Applejack with a surprised look on her face, but Applejack didn't understand why. The two ponies in the room continued talking.

"Okay, well…does this go in there?"

"No Ash, that goes in there! Wow, it's like you've never seen one before…"

"Well in my defense, I didn't do this often back where I'm from!"

"So is this is your first time?"

"Well more or less. I've never actually gone all the way through."

"Wow, you've never done this before? You're a male; I thought most of you thought about this all day!"

"Hey, that's not what males think about all day! Though I will admit it takes up a fair bit."

"So we're gonna do it?"

"I suppose so."

Rarity's eyes widened to dramatic proportions, and Applejack finally understood the context of the conversation. Her eyes narrowed as she thought of what she was going to do to Ash in a few seconds, and how he'd not only be screaming in pain, but also attracting the attention of opera singers all across Equestria. Applejack burst through the door and yelled-

"Ash, you'd better stop what yer doin' right now or by Celestia Ah swear you'll regret it! Fluttershy's too innocent for that kinda stuff!"

Leaping away in fright, Ash flung the game controller away and backed into the corner of the room.

_Meanwhile, at the library_

Spike was whistling as he tidied the books and dusted the tables, making sure everything was clean for Twilight and her friends. He was in the kitchen making a sandwich when he heard the door open and shut along with the raucous laughter of Twilight and her two friends.

Walking out to greet them, he asked "What's gotten you three all happy?"

"The most awesome thing just happened!" squealed Rainbow Dash. "It was like….20% cooler than the coolest thing I know! Except the Wonderbolts, of course!"

"The most funnest amazingest exciting thing I've done too!"

"It was quite fun! Sorry Spike, but you kinda had to be there to really get how fun it was," sighed Twilight.

"Humph….seems like I never see anything cool," grumbled Spike as the mares walked upstairs for Twilight's spontaneous suggestion for a slumber party. "Could it be….? Nah…." thought Spike as he decided he was going to turn in and headed for his basket.

Unbeknownst to him, a voice whispered softly as he left the room.

"_Blitz…"_

Then, the room with the mares erupted in cheers. Spike later found out that Pinkie had attempted to throw a hat with her hooves onto Rainbow's head and had managed to land one. But once again, Spike had missed it. He moaned-

"Aww man…."

Cookie for anyone who gets that very last section and what TV show that's from!


	8. Revelations

Man, I thought you all would know what show that last bit last chapter was from! It was from _How I Met Your Mother_!

Disclaimer: I do not own many things in this chapter, which I shall now list: My Little Pony, Pokémon, XBOX, Wii, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Fallout New Vegas, Portal 2, or Call of Duty. Those belong to (sigh, so much typing): Hasbro, Nintendo/Game Freak, Microsoft, Nintendo again, LucasArt, Obsidian Entertainment/Bethesda Game Studios, Valve, and Activision/Treyarch/Infinity Ward (Seriously, how many owners does CoD even have?)

I also have to give credit to the story 'The Elements of Gaming' by Ryden and Xephyre. Check it out, it's an awesome story! Thanks to The Fanfic Stealer as well for assistance in this chapter!

(Sorry, but they won't really be playing the games in this chapter. It's more of a background topic)

Anyways….here's the not-so-long-waited-for installment of "Chaos Descending" by yours truly!

The four ponies stared at each other awkwardly.

"Wait, you mean to tell me, you were talking about a game?" asked Rarity.

"Um, no! Of course not!" stammered Fluttershy quickly, waving her hooves. Applejack and Rarity looked at her with stoic expressions.

"Then what were you talking about?"

Fluttershy attempted to think of a good cover story, but none came to her mind. "Okay maybe we were talking about a game a little…"

Now Ash raised his eyebrow.

"Okay, more than a little…"

He remained impassive.

"Okay! We were because I play a lot! I like it, it's fun!" spilled Fluttershy, immediately putting her hooves to her mouth. Ash went over and whispered "Good job," patting her on the shoulder. He got back up and then began thinking.

"Hey, why are you girls even here? Weren't you supposed to be saboteurs in the battle earlier?" he asked perplexedly.

"Oh, that? Well, we have a perfectly good explanation for that!" Rarity said. "Applejack and I were…uh…applebucking-"

"Making dresses!" blurted out Applejack.

"Making dresses….for applebucking! Yes, that was it. We were making dresses for Applejack to use while applebucking. A perfectly reasonable answer for your perfectly reasonable question," said Rarity nervously. Applejack nodded furiously in agreement as her eyes flicked around the room, unable to focus on one spot.

Rarity mulled that over for a second. "That actually gives me an idea…" murmured Rarity. Applejack heard her and frantically shook her head, mouthing "_No no no!_"

Rarity pretended not to see her.

"Hmm…okay! Sounds cool!" said Ash finally. "It'd be cool to see them in action!"

Rarity released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and sighed in relief. Applejack stopped fidgeting and calmed down as well, although both heavily resisted the idea to facehoof at the boy's inability to see through anything, Rarity especially. She'd witnessed Applejack attempting to lie on multiple occasions…and it wasn't pretty.

"Though that doesn't answer really why you're up here in Fluttershy's room?" Ash continued on.

"Well, you haven't explained either!" retorted Applejack quickly.

"Um…okay then. Fluttershy invited me up to play some games," said Ash, gesturing to Fluttershy.

"What now?" Rarity and Applejack looked at Fluttershy, who blushed and motioned to the table next to the TV, where a black box with green lights, XBOX along the side, and a strange camera-like apparatus on the top. The two mares looked at the two curiously.

"What are these Fluttershy?"

"Yeah sugarcube, what in tarnation are these? They look like something from them movies about the future!"

"Well those are what I play games on… the Xbox," Fluttershy clarified.

"So, this black one is the… Xbox?" asked Rarity curiously.

"Yes," responded Fluttershy.

"Fascinating! I've heard about these, but I've never really seen one in action! They're all the rage in Canterlot since they've been released from what I've heard…" muttered Rarity. Meanwhile, Applejack had gone over and began prodding the Xbox. She felt her hoof depress into the machine, and leapt back with a yelp as she heard the machinery begin to power up.

She stared at the machine buttons glow in fascination. As a country mare, she'd never really seen a device quite like this one. She'd heard about them though, from Rainbow Dash and her "Call of Cutie" games, and that they were "_SO AWESOME_!" Of course, Rainbow thought anything she liked was automatically awesome to everypony, so Applejack remained skeptical. She raised her hoof to turn it off when Rarity let out a fan-girl squeal.

Rarity had been checking Fluttershy's little library of games and skimming through them, reading the titles aloud.

"Huh, _Star Ponies: The Magic Unleashed_, _Call of Cutie: Pony Warfare 2_, _Fallout New Hoofington_….Fluttershy, do you have anything that's _not _somewhat violent?" asked Rarity, a little confused on the timid pegasus' gaming preferences.

"Hmm….honestly, I don't think so…"

Rarity continued skimming, but her eye caught on another title, but this one looked technical and different. The vivid colors and two robotic colts on the front seemed to catch her eye as well. "Huh, _Portal 2_…..I've heard of this one…"

"Ah reckon Ah've too. Back when we were in Canterlot, I heard some people talkin' about how amazing it was…Ah heard that everypony thought it was the funniest and most entertaining game they've ever pla-"

"It's popular in Canterlot?" squealed Rarity excitedly. "Can I play it? Please please please please _please_?" she asked, literally bending over backwards to look Fluttershy in the eye.

"Looks like Rarity is willing to _bend over backwards_ to get what she wants," Ash thought. Then he snickered at his brilliantly original pun. And then Applejack knocked him upside the head because he'd said it out loud, and she thought it was stupid.

"Ow! Hey, that hurt!"

"That's kinda the point there, smart one."

"Well, okay I guess. If that's what you want…" said Fluttershy hesitantly. "I'm not sure if you'd enjoy it as much though…You and Applejack can both play though…"

"Fluttershy," said Ash, rubbing his head. "She wants to play it….what's the worst that could happen?"

The two mares stared in horror at the other two ponies. Finally, Applejack spoke up.

"The worst thing that could happen? _Everything_."

Applejack helped Fluttershy to prepare the Xbox while Rarity preened, pretending the camera (Which the girls had learned was called a Kinect) was interviewing her.

"So, I just stand….here?"

"No Rar', ye gotta stand a little to the left. There's more than one pony in this room, ya know?" said Applejack, trying to make room to set up the Xbox.

"But, how is the camera going to see my magnificence?" replied Rarity slightly arrogantly, flipping her mane.

"Girls?" asked Fluttershy timidly to no avail.

"Ah don't see how that camera is gonna see anything if yer butt is in the way!" retorted Applejack.

"Applejack! How dare you! If anything, if I'm blocking you, I'm doing the camera a favor!" said Rarity angrily.

"Girls?"

"Oh, you wanna play this game? Okay, we'll play this game!" said Applejack, standing on her hind hooves. "Put em' up, put em' up!"

"To defend my honor as a mare against the likes of you? Gladly!" cried Rarity, drawing a rapier from….somewhere and clenching it in her teeth, staring Applejack down.

"GIRLS!" yelled Fluttershy, standing in between the two while Ash stood in the corner, silently laughing at their impromptu fight. "AND ASH!" Ash immediately stopped laughing and stood abashedly.

"Stop this now!" demanded Fluttershy. Almost as quickly as the argument sprung up, it was snuffed out like a candle and the two mares sat back down, looking at Fluttershy with a mix of respect and fear.

"Now apologize!' commanded the yellow mare. The two immediately hugged, though now Ash wasn't sure if it was out of fear or genuine sorrow. Probably the first one….because he was feeling it too. He shuddered. Mad Fluttershy is scary Fluttershy.

"Now…." murmured Fluttershy thoughtfully. "Where's that disk?"

"The dancing one?" asked Ash.

"What? No, not that one. The other one…_Portal 2._" Ash picked up a disk casing lightly with his teeth and showed it to Fluttershy, who responded, "Yes, that one."

"Here," he mumbled, his mouth muffled by the disk, and dropped it lightly on the table by the Xbox.

"Thanks Ash. Now, you two," she said, looking sternly at the two mares cowering, each a touch disconcerted. "I want you two to get along today. No insults or anything, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"You have mah word!"

"Good. So no insults," said Fluttershy before turning to Ash and muttering into his ear, "I give it ten minutes into the game before they're at each other's necks."

Ash's eyes went up in mock surprise. "Why Fluttershy, I didn't see you as a gambler! Betting is a fool's game!" he declared while sidling up next to her and murmuring, "I give it five."

Ash noticed that gaming began to change Fluttershy's personality, but he had yet to witness the full-extent of the change. Right then, it was pretty insignificant anyways.

The two shook hooves and smirked, each confident of their own victory. Meanwhile, Rarity and Applejack had released each other immediately afterwards and gone back to setting up the machine for their game, but neither was very experienced with the functioning of the Xbox, and thus remained unsuccessful. Fluttershy trotted up to the Xbox and inserted the disk, which she had been holding for the whole time, and the machine began to load the disk. Rarity and Applejack watched with a bit of awe before realizing nothing was happening.

"Uh sugarcube, shouldn't we be seeing something on the screen?" asked Applejack hesitantly. She was out of her element after all, not know the slightest thing about what Fluttershy was doing.

"Oops, I forgot to turn it on," replied Fluttershy sheepishly, extending a hoof and pushing the TV's 'on' button. The screen slowly flickered to life, displaying the Xbox menu, which Fluttershy skimmed by with well-practiced ease, maneuvering to the selection she wanted and entering it, the game loading slowly.

The mares and Ash waited in suspense as the screen faded to black, and then a picture appeared of a pony with a gear stuck in the back of his head, and the words _Valve _in the corner.

"Creepy…" murmured Rarity as Applejack nodded in agreement.

"It gets better," assured Fluttershy as Ash stared at the screen in fascination. After all, if you're traveling most of your life, you wouldn't have much experience or knowledge about things like this.

The logo faded away as the screen flashed again, only this time to reveal a menu.

"Uh sugarcube? What's all that mean?" asked Applejack, pointing at the screen.

"Well that's-"

"Why Applejack it's so obvious as to what that is! It's the main menu!" interrupted Rarity. The orange earth pony glared at her as she smiled innocently.

"Not even two minutes in and I'm winning," whispered Ash to Fluttershy.

"Oh be quiet!" replied Fluttershy with mock disapproval, hitting him lightly with her hoof. Ash then decided he'd have a little fun.

"Ahh! Oh, the pain!" moaned Ash as he fell to the floor, foreleg holding where Fluttershy had hit him. "It hurts so badly! Why would you do this to me Fluttershy! WHY?"

"Wha- Ash, no! I'm so sorry, do you need a bandage? Ice? Anything?" asked Fluttershy frantically, already opening a bag full of medical supplies. Rarity and Applejack turned and snickered silently to themselves. Fluttershy may be the most caring pony they knew, but it didn't mean it wasn't entertaining once in a while to see her pranked. Unless it was too badly, like with Gilda. Then they'd step in…

Fluttershy grabbed a long, sharp needle and tapped it with her hoof, and turned to Ash. "Okay Ash, this will hurt a lot. I'm sorry, but I need to know how badly I injured you, and it's easiest to do that if you're unconscious. So, night night!"

She grasped it between her teeth and moved slowly towards Ash, who saw and immediately leapt up, protesting.

"I'm fine Fluttershy, see! I can walk and everything!" shouted Ash, jumping up and down to show her.

"Oh, now you're hallucinating you're okay. I might need to inject two needles to keep you down long enough," said Fluttershy with a smile.

"No it's okay. No, stop, I'm fine! FLUTTERSHY PUT THE NEEDLE DOWN!" Ash demanded.

Fluttershy actually stopped for a moment and thought as Ash sighed in relief.

"Uh…..nope," said Fluttershy, advancing on him again.

"Oh good I thou-Wait what!"

But it was too late. Fluttershy leapt towards him and Ash cringed in terror, closing his eyes as he felt a light body impact against him and straddled him. He clenched his teeth as he imagined the insane Fluttershy stabbing into his side with that _long_ needle…and how badly that would hurt…and if she would please stop laughing like an insane doctor…

Why is she laughing if she hasn't done it yet anyways?

Ash opened his eyes to another pair of wide teal eyes staring back at him. The teal ones reflected nothing but amusement and laughter.

"…I know I said this earlier, but you are an evil pony Fluttershy. An evil pony."

"I know," said Fluttershy happily.

The two stayed in that position for a few moments, with Fluttershy lying on Ash's back and holding him down. Meanwhile, Applejack and Rarity had become bored of watching the duo and went back to playing. With neither knowing how to play, they chose single-player mode and started a new game, alternating players on what the game called "test chambers".

"Fluttershy, can you get off me?" asked Ash after a few minutes of watching Rarity fail and rage at 'Wheatley' for being an idiot, and Applejack slowly shifting away.

"Nope!" responded Fluttershy cheerfully.

"What do you mean "nope"?"

"Well, last time I checked, nope was a term expressing dissent or denial. Which I am doing to you right now."

"Fluttershy, don't make me sic my Pokémon on you. You know I'll do it," threatened Ash.

"No you won't. One, because your Pokémon are all downstairs, Pikachu's with Spike at Twilight's, and you'd never attack me," said Fluttershy with an innocent stare.

Ash cursed to himself. Even if he expected no danger, he should always have at least one Pokémon on him. But it wasn't him to sic his Pokémon on people anyways…or in this case, ponies.

"And two," listed Fluttershy with an evil grin. "You know you like me on top of you."

Ash, Rarity, Applejack, and the viewer audience all made a collective gasp, immediately followed by "WHAT?"

Ash's face _literally _exploded in red as he buried his head in his hooves, covering his ears. Rarity and Applejack stared at their friend's forward approach in astonishment, Rarity actually holding her hoof over her mouth and attempting not to faint. Applejack actually just looked slightly green.

"Flut-Fluttershy! Don't say things like that!" Ash squeaked out.

"And why not?" asked Fluttershy, slowly moving her head towards his, nuzzling his neck and whispering in his ear. "You know you enjoy it…"

"No I do not!" said Ash, his voice nearly high enough to be perceivable only by bats and particular gossip-loving ponies. "Please get off!"

"What?"

"I said please get off!"

"Beg."

"What? No I will not beg!"

"Then I won't get off. Simple as that Ashy boy, simple as that."

Ash silently steamed at the Ashy boy comment, and vowed that Fluttershy would get off him whether she wanted to or not.

"Okay Fluttershy, you asked for it. I asked you nicely, but I guess the gloves…or whatever you ponies use to keep your hooves warm…are off! It's no more Mr. Nice Pony!" yelled Ash as he pushed mightily off the ground and bucked Fluttershy off his back.

Well, that was what he intended to do. Instead, he just fell back to the ground with a 'thump' and a wince of pain.

"Ooh…Geez Fluttershy, you have leg muscles of steel…"

"Thank you."

"Now will you get off me then? I paid you a compliment! Will you kindly remove your posterior from my body and allow me the ability to move freely again?"

"Hmmm….lot of big words…but still no."

Ash sighed. Fluttershy seemed intent on keeping him there…

_Meanwhile, Dream Region_

"Sup Celestia!" called a voice.

"Hey Arceus," the white ethereal maned quadruped responded. Arceus noticed she was pretty focused on something, waving her hooves around as her horn flashed occasionally.

"What are you doing?"

"What? Oh this, it's awesome! You remember Fluttershy, right?"

"Of course! Hard to miss her….actually, I take that back, it's nearly impossible to catch her unless you knew she was there. It's like 'Where's Waldo' for my sake!"

"Where's Waldo?" Celestia questioned.

"Oh, it's an excellent game we have back in my world! You see, there's a little human man, and he's wearing a little red and white striped hat and sweater, and he's in a group of hundreds of other humans and things, and you have to find him!" replied Arceus enthusiastically.

"Sounds like a game we have in our dimension. We call it 'Finding Fluttershy'! When she was a model, she was all the rage, and some ponies just took advantage of the craze and made it a game," said Celestia thoughtfully.

"Sounds like a hard enough game in real life!" chortled Arceus. "I've noticed, if that little pegasus doesn't want to be found, it's damn near impossible to find her."

Celestia poked him in the chest. "Watch your language mister! You may be my friend, but I still don't want to hear that language from you!"

Arceus rolled his eyes and smirked. "Or what?"

Celestia only smiled and pointed to the object she had been focusing on. "Or that." Arceus inspected what seemed to be a small pool of water, only with live video.

"Huh…didn't know water could get cable…" muttered Arceus in thought. That earned him a whack on the head. "You suck Celestia!"

She motioned him to turn back. "Keep watching."

"What exactly am I watching? Is that Ash and Fluttershy?"

"Yep."

"And is Fluttershy…oh no, what are you doing to her? That's just…oh me…that's just gross!"

"Yeah, so watch your tone with me! I can make you do that easily."

"Well that's just weird and wrong!' retorted Arceus.

"Well I was bored!" whined Celestia.

"Still, that's wrong! Release her at once!" demanded Arceus with all the authority he could muster, stamping his hoof for dramatic effect. It worked well, with the stone underneath him rippling with power and the walls trembling. Celestia would be sure to listen to him.

"No."

"Good. Okay then, we'll- Wait, what?"

"I said no. It amuses me," said Celestia, crossing her forelegs and sitting down.

"I don't care about your amusement! We have to keep Ash sane and intact, and your silly pranks may scar him for life!"

"Well it's too late. I put a spell on Fluttershy releasing one of her alternate personalities, and only I can choose to change her back. So there," said Celestia, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Well two can play at that game!" shouted Arceus, sending his wheels spinning.

"Arceus, what are you doing?" asked Celestia nervously.

"Well…" Arceus grunted. "If you're going to do that to Fluttershy….I'll just have to…give you…. a taste of… your… own…MEDICINE!"

Light erupted from his body as it enveloped Celestia, who cried out-

"Arceus, when I get back to normal you are so dead!"

Arceus merely raised his forelegs to his side and calmly said, "Come at me brony."

"That was a terrible excuse of wordplaaaaaayyyy….."

Finally, Celestia's voice faded away, and the light dissipated. Arceus looked and saw Celestia standing there, looking perfectly normal.

"Huh, I wonder if it even worked. Hey Celestia!"

The alicorn slowly turned towards him, an evil gleam in her dangerous looking eyes. She stalked towards his frozen body ever so slowly.

"Uh Celestia? What are you doing?"

"Well, in about a minute…" she whispered into his ear. "…you."

"No! No, back away! Do not touch that! DO NOT! Back I tell you! BAAACK!"

_Back in Fluttershy's house_

Fluttershy blinked slowly, her eyes adjusting to the light.

"Ooh, my head…why does it hurt so badly? I'll just lay down on this nice soft pillow.."

She put her head down and crinkled her nose at the warmness of her pillow. How it felt nice, with some coarse edges but overall softness, and how it smelled like Ash….

"Mmmm….Ash…"

"Er…yeah?"

Fluttershy's eyes shot open again as she looked down and saw Ash lying there, looking up at her with a pleading look in his eyes. With an audible 'eep!' she rolled off of him and scrambled to a nearby table, frantically whispering to herself with a visible red hue to her face.

Ash sighed in relief as he stood up and stretched out all the kinks in his back from Fluttershy. He looked accusingly at the two ponies that were now playing what looked like 'Cooperative Mode' on the TV.

"You two could have at least helped!"

"Ah'm busy," yelled Applejack, shooting an orange portal into the top of the ceiling in the game as Rarity's player ducked into it and they finished the level.

"As am I darling. This game is simply magnificent! The colors, the puzzles, the intricate details!" gushed Rarity.

"Plus," added in Applejack. "We never get in the way of Fluttershy if she wants something. Have you seen the Stare?"

"The Stare?"

"Well, it's this… stare Fluttershy does to make basically anything listen to her."

"That's ridiculous!"

"It took down a full-grown dragon."

"…not so ridiculous!"

"Yep."

Ash felt a soft hoof nudge his shoulder and glanced into Fluttershy's eyes.

"Hey, what's up?"

"…"

"What? I couldn't hear you…"

"I'm sorry….."

Ash asked again, his voice completely void of sarcasm. "I honestly don't know what you're saying. Can you talk louder?"

Fluttershy wailed and dived into a thoroughly surprised Ash's arms. "I'm sorry for how I acted! I don't even know what came over me! I'll understand if you never want to see me again…"

She began to hover in the air and started to fly away, tears threatening to form before Ash gently grabbed her hoof and pulled her back down.

Ash smiled at her and pulled her head up to look directly into his eyes. "Now Fluttershy, what kind of idea is that? Why would I never want to see you again?"

"Because I'm a perverted monster! I'm horrible! Just like when Iron Will came-"

Ash remembered that day…..not the best memory.

_Last week_

Ash wandered around town, looking for something to do. He'd actually found a job as a moving pony as a temporary job, but he and his Pokémon were enjoying it. He was thinking about maybe helping Fluttershy with her animals, but he didn't want to take that time away from her.

He'd just finished moving a nice couple of mares into their house. He'd gotten used to the idea of mares together rather quickly, considering the fact that he had grown up in a dimension where it wasn't the norm.

"Thanks Ash!" called the mint-green unicorn, Lyra. "I enjoyed our human discussions! Can I see your Pokémon later?"

"Lyra!" scolded the second mare, a white mare with a striped mane. Bon-Bon, if Ash recalled correctly. "How old are you?"

"Four!" came the cheery response.

"Urgh….look what I have to deal with here Ash!" complained Bon-Bon. "Can you sic some of your Pokémon on them to make her shut up?"

Ash chuckled. "Sorry Bon-Bon, no can do. I'm busy all day. Plus, I think my Pokémon enjoy Lyra's presence for some odd reason."

"Somepony besides me enjoys Lyra's company?" gasped Bon-Bon theatrically. "Lyra, do you know what this means?"

Lyra jerked her eyes away from the clouds and turned back to Bon-Bon. "What?"

"It means you might have friends!"

"Oh ha ha Bon-Bon. You're hilarious."

"And that's why you fell for me," murmured her marefriend, nuzzling her.

"Ew…that's so cheesy. But so true..." said Lyra back, resting her head on Bon-Bon's.

The two stood like that for quite some time before Ash interrupted awkwardly and the two tipped him nicely and went inside their house as Ash walked around.

"Huh, what to do…." he muttered to himself. "Eh. I guess I'll go find Fluttershy."

Ash spotted a crowd in the distance and wondered what it was. He was about to find out when a goat rudely walked into him.

"Oof, excuse me sir," said Ash.

"Shut up kid, I'm busy working," responded the goat arrogantly.

Ash silently steamed, but pretended to ignore him and tried to walk by. But the insufferable goat got into his way again.

"Get out!" Ash demanded, starting to feel his Aura flare up the smallest bit.

"Whatcha gonna do about it kid? Hit me? You don't have the gu-"

That's about as far as he got before he was flung into the air by a certain pink and yellow pegasus pony.

"YOU DO NOT MESS WITH MY FRIENDS! DO YOU HEAR ME?"

The goat merely whimpered and curled up in a fetal position. Ash was also fairly sure that if the goat had been wearing pants (if anyone wore pants in Equestria) then they would be wet all down the front. Heck, he was kinda scared!

"I SAID DO YOU HEAR ME?"

"Y-y-yes miss…"

"Good. Now go!"

The goat scrambled away and ran for the hills, presumably to never be seen again. (He actually resurfaced later as an evil super villain intent on taking revenge on Fluttershy and the brown earth pony with the hat, but that's a story for another time).

Ash flashed a nervous smile to Fluttershy and said "Thanks…Although there were slightly better ways that could have been handl-"

"No need for your thanks Ash! Assertiveness is what I do!" she proclaimed, as she proceeded to hail a cab, have a pony cut her in line, throw said pony out of said cab, and zoom away.

Ash shook his head to get out of his flashback, and silenced her with a hoof to her mouth. "Now Fluttershy, there's a big difference between changing your personality completely and changing it temporarily. You've just changed a little, but every time, you changed back to the Fluttershy we all know and love."

Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat. "_He said he loves me! Well, not technically, but it's implied!_"

Fluttershy slowly drifted off as Ash continued on before he noticed her unfocused eyes and 'looking off into space' look on her face.

"Fluttershy?"

"Wha-? Oops, sorry….got distracted," said Fluttershy apologetically.

"By what?"

"Um…..Rarity and Applejack's playing!"

Applejack turned to Fluttershy. "Sugarcube, we stopped playing once Ash began giving his wonderful speech…"

Rarity dabbed an eye. "It was truly heart-stirring Ash…"

Ash blushed as Fluttershy silently became angry with herself for missing the amazing sections of Ash's speech.

"Well Fluttershy…..stay? Come on, nopony here wants you to leave and be miserable." He raised an arm to motion her to him. "Come here. Come on."

Fluttershy hesitantly trotted over to Ash, who spread an arm over her shoulder and squeezed her tightly. "There there….come on Fluttershy, I'm not mad. In fact, I found that pretty hot…"

Fluttershy gasped and turned away.

"I'm kidding! Ponies can't take a joke like humans can, huh?"

Fluttershy nodded and moved herself closer to Ash, feeling his warmth envelop her. She knew right then that this was the moment to tell him her feelings. She'd never have a better moment. Hearth's Warming was still too awkward to tell a colt you just met you think you're falling for him…but now…

"Ash, I have something to tell you…" she began.

"Go for it. After all, what are friends for?"

"_What are friends for…._"

The words repeated themselves over and over in her head. Fluttershy's heart broke as she heard him say the words no pony ever wants to hear from their secret crush.

"_He thinks I'm only a friend….nothing more, even after I've fallen for him harder than anypony …_"

Fluttershy began to feel moisture well up in her eyes and she began tasting saltiness in her mouth.

Stifling a sob, she managed to say "Ash, I…I have to go somewhere. Don't follow me… I'll talk to you later."

"What? Why-"

But it was too late. She was gone.

He turned to Rarity and Applejack. "What just happened?"

The two mares only shook their heads and sighed, putting down the game controllers and shutting off the system. Ash had to figure this one out…alone.

**Depressing end to a section…..well to me at least. Anyways, to brighten things up a bit, let's go back to Arceus and Celestia!**

_Dream Region_

"No, I am not putting that on."

"I can make you Arcy….you'd look pretty sexy…."

"Eww! No! That's just wrong Celestia!" Arceus said forcefully. "I'm changing you back to normal!"

Blasting her away from him with enough damage to knock her out, he quickly harnessed his energy and sent golden light enveloping her again. After the light disappeared, Celestia opened her eyes looking dazed.

"Ugh…Arceus, you freakin' suck! I'm going to kill you!" she screamed as she lunged towards Arceus, arms extended in a deadly embrace.

"AAHH!" bellowed Arceus, running for what he believed was his life from the insane alicorn coming after him. "Wake up, wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!"

Arceus tried to force himself awake, but it didn't work. "Crap!"

"Oh no Arceus, things are going to get a lot worse from here!" yelled Celestia.

Arceus wheeled around, only to receive a faceful of alicorn falling onto him and pinning him to the floor face up. He groaned in pain as he felt Celestia's full weight heavily slam him into the ground.

"Ooooh…..why Celly….why?" moaned Arceus.

"That's what you get for trying to cast spells on me!" shrieked Celestia.

"No, I meant why are you so damn heavy? OW! Damn it, I need that leg for walking!"

Celestia punched him in the stomach. "You have three more."

"Ow! That's not the point; it's the principle of the thing….hey wait! What do you mean by try? It worked perfectly!"

He glanced at Celestia's face, noticing her attempting to hide her expression and remain stoic.

"_What do you mean, try?_" asked Arceus in a serious tone.

"Weeeelllll..."

"_What. Do. You. Mean."_

Celestia whispered as she moved closer to Arceus. "Maybe I never changed personalities in the first place…."

"Wait…you mean, when you did that thing when you moved and made me do that thing with my….Oh me…You're a sick, sick pony! You make me feel all dirty!"

"….I know," she responded sultrily, inching closer to him. "So since you're dirty, you won't mind if I" –she licked his ear and he shuddered in both fear and (he'd deny this forever) arousal- "clean you up a bit?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

**Next Chapter Excerpt-**

Celestia winced as she gingerly moved around. "Ouch Arceus, there was really no need to unleash the elemental powers of every possible thing in your world on me!"

"YOU WERE TRYING TO EAT ME!"

"…."

"…."

"…so?"

That awkward moment when your best friend attempts to eat you.

And there it is! Sad Fluttershy and strangely aroused Arceus.

…..Not gonna lie, I felt weird writing this chapter.

(Also, some of you may think Fluttershy overreacted. But this is a pony that's scared of her own shadow at some points and is completely inexperienced with any romance except the ones in books)


	9. Unexpected Visitors Part I

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon nor MLP:FiM. Those are the property of Nintendo/Game Freak and Hasbro, respectively.

So, for those who actually still read this story, here's a new chapter of Chaos Descending! Thanks to TheFanficStealer for his awesome editing!

Sorry about the wait! Also, this chapter isn't really a pony-filled chapter. Next one will be though!

* * *

><p>While Ash was trying vainly to figure out the source of Fluttershy's behavior, another mystery was unfolding far, far away…..<p>

_Kanto_

"Hey Misty!" a voice called out into the near-empty gym.

Another trainer responded, her bright orange hair whipping around her head as she turned to face the newcomer. She was fairly attractive, and often had many trainers come in and offer her a date. She politely refused (well except that one time, but that was different. Well, that's what she told the police afterwards, anyway).

The Cerulean City gym leader waved a 'hello. "Hey Brock! I see you're still wearing that outfit from our journeying days. Show some creativity, man!"

"Eh, I've changed before! Plus, I felt nostalgic for the good old days," reminisced Brock fondly, looking down at his vest. The tall, brown and spiky-haired breeder had worn an orange shirt with a green vest over it, along with brown pants and sneakers. "I mean, it's kind of weird now that I think about it, having gone this long without traveling with Ash…"

Misty paused in thought. "Hmm….you know, now that you mention Ash, I have an idea!"

And before Brock could react, Misty disappeared into the back of the gym.

"What-?" Brock thought confusedly as he followed Misty's path to the back of the gym. Passing by her Gyrados and Pysduck, he waved hello and threw a few pieces of food to each one. They accepted his gift gratefully, although Psyduck managed to almost choke himself on it.

Anyways….

"Mist? Hey!" called Brock, looking around for the gym leader. "Oof!"

He turned around and noticed he had bumped into Daisy, Misty's older sister.

"Who-? Oh, hello Brock-" Daisy began.

"Hello Daisy, your name is perfect for you, as you are an uncontested beauty, much like the flower itself," Brock praised, his eyes momentarily changing into hearts.

Daisy sighed. She'd been through this act already, and seen how Misty handled it. She reached over his head, grabbed his ear, and yanked hard.

"OW!" yelped Brock.

"Better," Daisy said, nodding. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was looking for Misty. She ran back here once I mentioned Ash during our conversation earlier…"

Daisy mused silently and nodded. She stepped out of his way as Brock continued on his search. He pushed in a few doors, knocked on some locked ones, got kicked out of the ladies room, checked around some corners, got kicked out of the ladies room a second time….but nothing.

He sighed and sat down in a nearby chair, wondering where Misty had gotten off to, when all of a sudden, his chair tilted forward and knocked him to the ground.

"Ouch! What the-?"

He turned and realized his chair was set in front of a door. And to make him feel more like an idiot, he noticed it said "Gym Leader" across the top.

"Oh gosh Brock! Are you okay?"

He glanced up and noticed Misty extending a hand to him. He grabbed it thankfully, and pulled himself up.

"Thanks Misty….Hey, nice clothes!"

Misty had dressed, like Brock, in the same clothes they had while in Kanto and Johto so long ago. She twirled around in glee and said "Thanks! I haven't worn these in so long, I almost forgot I had them until you walked in!"

Brock laughed and said, "Now all we need to finish our amazing trio is Ash!"

Then silence.

"Hmm….have you seen Ash lately Mist?" asked Brock after a moment of thinking.

"Now that you mention it….no, I haven't."

_In Hall of Legendaries_

Arceus panicked, flipping through his book of spells and random nonsense he used on humans for his own amusement.

"Where is it, where is it, shipping spell...banana summoning spell...sleep-inducing spell...What are Celestia's spells doing in here?" he wondered out loud. "Ah! Here it is!"

He opened the book to a spell called "_Prohibuisti memoria_" and quickly skimmed through its lengthy description.

"Binds memory until further notice…Blocks memory from entering mind…..There aren't any loopholes in this stupid spell! How the heck are those two remembering anything?"

He slammed the book shut in annoyance, neglecting to notice a small torn piece flutter down from the book.

_Not effective on those who are truly important to the subject of the spell._

* * *

><p>Daisy Waterflower sat in her favorite chair in the kitchen, sipping from a large cup of coffee and sighing in pleasure.<p>

"This is nice…." she murmured to herself.

Suddenly, Misty and Brock barreled through the kitchen door and confronted her, asking "Have you seen Ash?"

Daisy had no idea what she was talking about and tried to comfort her little sister, but the two had already disappeared after grabbing a quick snack on the way out.

"Wait Misty! What about the gym? MISTY!"

"On the way to Pallet Town, probably not back till' nighttime, bye!"

Daisy sat back in her chair. "Well, hopefully, there aren't any challengers today…"

As if the gods decided to mock her, she heard a voice call out for a gym battle.

"_Oh Arceus, I haven't actually battled anyone in forever_!" thought Daisy, panicking. "Coming!"

She strode out, expecting a fierce challenger, but was met with a little boy.

"_Oh, thank Arceus, it's just a little kid. He'll just lose and I'll tell him he should train for a few more days until Misty gets back!_"

"Are you the gym leader?" yelled the little kid.

"No, I am filling in for the gym leader," she responded. "But I'm still just as good! Go, Dewgong!"

The Sea Lion Pokémon came out in a flash of light, barking eagerly as it faced down its challenger.

The kid snickered and reached for his belt, and threw his Pokémon. "Go, Magneton!"

Daisy sweatdropped. "This isn't going to end well…."

* * *

><p>Brock and Misty ran all around town, asking questions about Ash, only to get little or no useful information. It was like everyone remembered Ash as he was a month ago, and had no idea about what's happened ever since.<p>

"This is stupid! How can no one know where he is?" exclaimed Misty indignantly.

"Calm down Misty, I'm sure we'll find him," placated Brock.

"I hope so, because when we do find him, Ash won't forget about not telling us anything for a long, _long_ time!"

Brock thanked Arceus and the Legendary Gods silently that he was not in Ash's position right now. He'd seen enough to know Misty's threats were real enough, and that she could actually back them up.

The duo knocked on the door of the Ketchum house again for the fifth time this hour, but once again received no answer.

"ARGH! Where is Ash?"

Brock sighed and leaned against the door. All of a sudden, the door moved inwards and Brock was left clutching at air before falling backwards and landing in a heap on the floor.

"Ow….seriously? Stupid doors…"

Misty however, was more serious as she noticed the door seemingly opened and unlocked. She slowly stepped in and peered around.

"Psst! Brock, get up!" she hissed.

"Not until my head stops hurting!" he insisted.

Misty sighed in annoyance and yanked him up, and the duo began methodically searching the house.

The two met up in the living room, after realizing that the search was in vain, as neither Ash nor his mother was there. The only occupant of the house was silence.

"Huh….I'm actually starting to worry Brock…" said Misty nervously, wringing her hands together.

"It's fine, it's gonna be fine…" said Brock, although it seemed he was trying to convince himself more than Misty.

They walked back outside and shut the door. "Hey, we should check out Professor Oak's place!" suggested Misty.

Brock nodded in agreement. After all, Ash was like Oak's surrogate son after his father left so long ago.

* * *

><p><em>One moderately uneventful walk later<em>

Misty rapped on the door with her fist, only to receive silence as her answer.

"HELLO!"

Brock shrugged, and the two of them began to walk away before hearing a thud against the door. They turned, and saw a clearly disheveled Gary Oak stumbling to his feet.

"Gary!" said Brock in surprise. He thought Gary was in Hoenn for a convention. He steadied Gary on his shoulder as Gary muttered his thanks.

"What happened to you?" asked Misty, concerned.

"I….went out last night…" slurred Gary. "…and got wasted as hell."

Misty sighed in exasperation, thinking that Gary may have known something useful. Brock propped Gary against the wall, which Gary happily slumped.

"Urgh, we'll never find Ash now!" Misty complained, crossing her arms.

"We will, we just have to try a little harder!" Brock reassured. "Let's look inside the lab and see if we can find anything."

The two pushed past the snoring Gary and crept into the apparently empty lab.

"Huh. It's empty," remarked Brock, rather unnecessarily.

They continued to the back of the lab, and made their way into the Pokémon habitats. They were promptly met by an eager Bulbasaur and Bayleef, as well as a few of the other Pokémon.

"Hey guys!" cooed Misty, rubbing their heads as they wriggled happily.

Brock flipped his bag off his shoulder and pulled out some treats for them, throwing them into the air as the Pokémon caught them.

"Hey! What's going on over there!"

Both Misty and Brock turned at the familiar voice and saw the figure racing towards them.

"Hey Tracy!" they called out eagerly.

"Misty? Brock? Is that you?" he asked, hugging Misty and giving a warm handshake to Brock. "Huh, it is you! How are you guys?"

"We're fine-" started Brock.

"We can't seem to find Ash! Also, why are you here if the Professor or the assistants aren't here?" asked Misty, effectively shutting Brock out of the conversation.

"Well I'm here because they need someone to feed the Pokémon! Remember, Oak left to the Sevii Islands a while ago. Who do you expect to feed the Pokémon? Themselves?"

"Oh…."said Misty, understanding. "Well, we're just searching for Ash. Have you seen-"

Before she could finish her thought however, a loud explosion caught her attention.

"That's from the grass Pokémon habitat!" yelled Tracy, already throwing Scizor, his large insect Pokémon and running towards the source. "Let's go!"

Brock and Misty nodded and each enlarged their Pokéballs.

"Go, Forretress!"

"Staryu, I choose you!"

The Bagworm Pokémon and Star Shape Pokémon popped out in a flash of light, and they all began sprinting to the explosion. Upon arriving, they found a large hole in the ground, and unsurprisingly, Team Rocket.

"Ahahaha!"

Misty and Brock sighed. Tracy looked on incredulously. "What are you guys doing? Those guys are going to steal the Pokémon!"

"Tracy…remember? It's Team Rocket," said Brock, tapping his head to emphasize. "Think about it."

"If you don't get it, just remember that they suck!" chimed in Misty.

"Hey! I heard that!" yelled a female voice.

"And I did too!" a male voice yelled.

"And you knows dat I did toos!" a Jersey resident (or talking Pokémon) responded.

"We know you did Jessie!" yelled Brock. "That's why we said it!"

"Oh yeah? Well, prepare for trouble!" said Jessie, the red-haired female of their trio.

"Make it double!" responded James, the purple-haired male and fairly idiotic member of the group.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" added the feline Pokémon.

"Wobbuffet!" the large blue blob of a Pokémon said, not willing to be forgotten.

The four stood proudly and faced Brock, Misty, and Tracy.

"Why'd you go back to using that one?" asked Brock curiously. "I seem to recall you were using a different one when I heard you guys in Sinnoh…"

Jessie shrugged. "Felt nostalgic for the old days."

Misty sighed. "_Seems everyone's missing the times when Ash was around…_"

Caught up in her thinking however, she failed to notice that James had activated a giant robot in the shape of a rather large Dusclops.

"-and we'll capture all the Pokémon with this, our new Pokémon….uh….well, it catches Pokémon! Is it really necessary to know the name?" James pondered. Jessie smacked him in the head.

"Just start the machine!"

"Fine, fine…"

The robot began with a whir and began moving slowly towards the Pokémon.

"Tracy! Get the Pokémon out of here! Me and Misty can handle this!" demanded Brock. Tracy obliged and threw out his other Pokémon to shepherd the Pokémon to safety.

Brock looked at Misty. "You ready?"

Misty nodded. "Let's do this."

"Forretress, Rapid Spin!"

"Staryu, Water Gun!"

Forretress flew towards the machine in a rapid twirl, spikes jutting outwards as it collided with the Dusclops' arm. The Water Gun barreled under the arm directly into the head of the machine.

"OW!" yelled the three inside the robot.

"Oh, you asked for it now missy!" yelled Jessie as she flipped open a cover on a switch and pressed it.

The Dusclops' arms suddenly converged and formed a sort of portal in between its hands.

"What the- Holy Arceus, what is that?" gasped Brock.

"It's our Pokémon catcher!" said James gleefully.

"Yeah, wit' all de money we didn't spend on Electric-proofing our robot, we could get da bigger and badder toys!" Meowth put in.

"Why didn't you Electric-proof it? Don't you idiots always do that?"

"Hey!" protested James and Meowth before Jessie cut them off.

"Shut it! We didn't because we noticed the main twerp ain't around, so we figured might as well!"

"_So they noticed Ash was gone too…._" thought Misty to herself. "Well whatever! We're taking your machine down!"

"Yeah! Forretress, Explosion on the arms!"

"Staryu, use Swift too!"

The two Pokémon's respective attacks flew towards the arms, which subsequently collapsed from the strain. The portal soon blinked out of existence as the machine tumbled to pieces, Team Rocket not exploding, but rather falling to the ground as their machine whirred and whined. After moaning in pain for a minute, Jessie got up and walked to James.

"James, you idiot!" yelled Jessie.

"How is this my fault?" whined James.

"Because-"

But before they could finish their argument and get properly blasted off, Wobuffet accidentally rammed the arm of the Dusclops, and something inside clicked. The portal that had disappeared suddenly reanimated, and it was very much active.

"What!" yelled all four people, as well as their Pokémon in their own speak.

"Oh crap! We're getting sucked in!" shouted Brock over the din the portal produced as he grasped at the ground. "TRACY!"

"Oh come on, this isn't how I thought I was going to go!" whined Misty. "I was going to die spectacularly at least…not done in by Team Rocket!"

"Hey! I take offense to that!" yelled Meowth. The other two nodded in agreement before continuing screaming for their lives.

Each one knew however that they couldn't hold on much longer.

Misty looked towards Brock next to her. "It was nice knowing you Brock."

Brock looked teary-eyed, but nodded strongly. "You too Mist."

Misty let go.

She flew backwards into the large purple abyss and disappeared. Brock soon followed suit, his arms too tired to hold on, followed by Team Rocket, screaming all the way.

As soon as they all disappeared, the machine exploded in a large display of fireworks people all over Kanto would admire.

* * *

><p>Misty opened her eyes with a groan to the bright sunlight above.<p>

"Urgh….what the..?"

She shut her eyes again and moaned in pain. "Well, they say if you can feel pain, you're not dead," she said to herself. She grunted as she moved to a sitting position. "Still sucks."

"Misty?" asked a voice.

"Brock! Cool, you're fine as well!"

"Um….Misty?"

"Where do you think Team Rocket got off to?"

"Um, Misty…?"

"That was some explosion probably, to knock us all out!"

"MISTY!" Brock bellowed. Misty cringed. Her normally well-tempered friend never bellowed.

"Uh, yes Brock?"

"You should probably open your eyes and check this out…"

"But it hurts!" she whined childishly.

"Just do it."

She sighed and opened her eyes. First, her vision was obscured by blurry images strewn across a bright canvas of colors, then solidified into….what?

She stared at Brock and noticed something…off about him. Maybe it was the new long black hair. Or maybe it was the much shorter posture. Or his skin coloring, which had become a dark brown.

Or maybe it was the simple fact that he was now a Ponyta, without the fiery mane, but a horn instead.

"You're a Ponyta…with a horn?"

Brock nodded remorsefully. "Take a look for yourself."

Misty searched desperately for a reflective surface and saw a pool of water. She leapt forward and looked at what she had become. She saw staring back at her a Ponyta with wings expanding from her sides and fiery orange mane, as well as the pure white body to match.

"Aw hell…I'm one too."

* * *

><p>And that's it!<p>

I'm super-duper sorry for not having put this up, but I've been so distracted by everything really, and now I have finals, and it's just a little hectic.

When my summer vacation starts though, be ready, because it's gonna go down. It'll go down like Rainbow Dash goes down in history. Or how Twilight goes down on a good book. Or...well, you should get my point.


	10. Unexpected Visitors Part II

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or My Little Pony. They belong to Game Freak/Nintendo and Hasbro, respectively.

A/N: I'm sorry for being a terrible updater. Have fun with the chapter!

* * *

><p><em>Outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres- Midday<em>

It was an unusually quiet day on the farm. As if by divine intervention, Applejack and Big Mac had finished bucking apples early, and actually had some time to themselves. Big Mac had gone into town to socialize a bit, but Applejack was content to just rest by the barn. And for the past half-hour, it had been just rest and silence.

…That is until a Celestia-awful noise boomed through the air and shook the farmhouse. Applejack jerked out of her relaxed state and straightened her hat on her head. Apple Bloom leaned out of the window and asked her sister, "Hey sis! What was that?"

Applejack shrugged. "No idea, but Ah'm gonna find out."

"Ooh me too!" called Apple Bloom, bounding outside before being caught by Granny Smith.

"Now, now missy, let your sister do her job."

"But Granny!"

"No buts little lady."

"Awww…."

Applejack trotted to the source of the noise as Apple Bloom was ushered back inside. After a minute's walk, she arrived at a rather large crater where, if she recalled properly, a large stone was set. It was a hindrance when they were seeding the farm, but nopony could move it. So they let it be and simply planted around it.

Applejack let out a slow whistle. "Wow…whatever could've broken this rock must've been heavy…"

She glanced around, but didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary. She would normally be panicking about the fact that a massive object could potentially be hiding in the trees, but if her worst fear came to be, she could always ask Twilight to help her find whatever it was. As long as it didn't destroy anything important, it was fine with her.

She was about to leave before she heard some rustling. She pushed past some trees and began to hear voracious chewing.

"What in the world…"

She slowly snuck closer to the source as they continued eating, who were clearly disregarding any attempts at subtlety.

"Mmm….these apples are delicious!"

"I know, right! They're so juicy and fresh!"

"Maybe we could sell em' to da boss!"

"Wobuffet!"

Applejack's eyes widened as she saw the two blank-flanked earth ponies, one with purple hair and a tan coat, and the other with an apple-red mane and a maroon coat. That wasn't as surprising to her however as the talking cat and blue gelatinous blob with a tail they seemed to be associated with. She was so shocked that she almost missed their next statement.

"We ought ta' take some o' dese to go!" the cat said.

"Yeah!" the other two cheered, as the blue blob made another strange noise.

Applejack's eyes narrowed. Aliens or not, nopony steals from her farm! She leapt out from the bush as the surprised ponies and pets fell back in shock.

"Hey! What are you doing you thieving varmints! Stealing mah apples?"

The duo merely laughed as they stood next to each other.

"Stealing your apples? I like to think of it as…merely borrowing," the red-maned mare said.

"Borrowing for an unknown amount of time," the purple maned one stallion added.

"Oh yeah? Well you can go borrow some bits and pay me back!" Applejack retorted.

"Hahaha…you underestimate us little pony. Prepare for trouble!" the mare said.

"And make it double!" replied the stallion.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all- OOF"

Whatever they were saying was immediately disrupted as an annoyed Applejack simply attempted to buck some sense into them. What she didn't expect however was the force of her kick to have knocked the entire group, save her, sky high and off into the distance.

She even swore she saw a small twinkle in the sky as she heard a tinny "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" followed by a "Wobuffet!"

She sighed as she walked back to the barn. Whatever they were…they weren't her problem now.

* * *

><p><em>Whitetail Wood, Equestria<em>

By some stroke of luck, Misty had managed to get to the puddle. But sudden changes like pony bodies make walking a _little _bit harder. So after a bit of faceplanting and dirt-eating, Misty was able to walk. Of course, Brock was able to do it immediately because he's Brock and can kind of do anything (…Except get a girlfriend, the poor bastard).

"OhmygoshI'?" shrieked Misty as she bounded around in panic, unable to contain her fear and nervousness. She glanced around and noticed Brock sitting calmly on his haunches, his eyes closed. Astonishingly, Misty could actually see his eyes when he opened them to give her a withering glare, something not many people in the world can claim. Maybe two or three at most.

"Hey! Brock? How are you so calm at a time like this?

"Simple answer? I'm not," said Brock. "In fact, I'm scared out of my mind. But logically, we don't really have a choice but to hope for the best and see what we can do about-" he motioned his hooves indicating himself and her "-this."

Misty angrily stomped her hooves. "But I can't go back to Cerulean City as a….as a….Ponyta! This goes against all my morals as a Water Pokémon trainer! I only train Water Pokémon, so if I was going to turn into a Pokémon, I'd be a Water-type!"

"But what about Togetic?" Brock asked.

"She didn't count!" Misty retorted. "She was special. She didn't have to be a Water-type."

"Well then, I don't think you need to worry about returning to Cerulean as a Ponyta."

"Why, pray tell?" Misty asked cynically.

"Because it's fairly obvious we're not Ponyta," Brock replied.

"But-"

"But nothing! We may have the same body shape and type, but other than that, we have nearly nothing in common. Ponyta's mane's are flaming, while ours-" he indicated his mane with his hoof- "are not. Ponyta are much taller than we are now, and they're white. You happen to be white, but I'm obviously not, so there isn't really any possible way that we could be Ponyta," finished Brock.

"Yeah, but-"

"Are you really going to go against the word of a Pokémon Breeder who studied multiple Pokémon constantly and as such, knows the breeding habits, mating rituals, and birthing techniques of nearly every Pokémon in Kanto?" interrupted Brock.

Misty fumed. "Not every Pokémon."

"I said _nearly_."

"Well whatever." She thought for a minute. "If we aren't Ponyta, then…what exactly are we?"

Brock looked upwards at the blue sky. "That, Misty, is a very good question, one that I don't have the answer to."

His enhanced ears flicked as he heard distant voices approaching. "Maybe we can find out soon though…."

* * *

><p>"Oh Spikey? Can you dig there please?"<p>

"Sure thing Rarity!"

The little dragon dove into the ground and scraped away the dirt, revealing a cache of gemstones. He stared at them hungrily.

"Mmmmm…..you would taste so good…."

"Spike? Can you hoof those to me please?"

Reluctantly, he picked them up and handed them to Rarity, who inspected them closely.

"Hmm….ruby, that looks good. Emerald, good as well. Sapphire…"

She noticed Spike drooling slightly and his futile attempts to hide it.

"….not very good actually. Spike? Do you want this?" asked Rarity kindly.

"Wha- Yeah! Sure! I mean" -he coughed- "Yeah, whatever."

Rarity levitated the gem to him, which he took nonchalantly. As soon as she turned away, he immediately devoured it and moaned in pleasure.

"That tasted as awesome as I thought it would…"

Rarity's sharp call interrupted his food daydreams. "Spike! We have work to do!"

"Coming, Rarity!"

The dragon hustled on his little feet as fast as he could towards her. Catching up, he walked alongside the unicorn as they made their way into the nearby forest.

"Hey Rarity, why are we going into the forest anyways?" asked Spike curiously. Under normal circumstances, simply being around Rarity would blank his mind. But the strangeness of going into the forest when they usually don't piqued his interest. The duo usually only searched the forest outskirts, where it was safer, rather than the forest, since unknown things lurked inside. Or is that Everfree? Spike knew Everfree definitely had some baddies in there, but he hadn't been to Whitetail very often.

"Because dear, I can't seem to find anymore gems out here that are worth digging up. And besides," she added. "It won't be too far in. We'll be able to see the entrance to the forest from wherever we end up. Who knows what kinds of gems we'll find!"

"Well alright then…."

The two trekked into the forest, occasionally stopping at a flare of Rarity's horn and subsequent digging. It had been nearly an hour, but at last, they had unearthed a sizable amount of gems, far more than Rarity intended to use in her upcoming dresses.

They had just finished digging up the last bits, and placed them in a nearby bag along with the others. But to their dismay, Spike nor Rarity had the ability to carry the massive amount of weight. Yet Rarity was unwilling to leave the gems behind, a stance Spike secretly disliked, since it left less chance of him being able to eat any more jewels.

"We are finding a way to take these back to Ponyville or my name isn't Rarity!" the unicorn proclaimed.

"But Rarity," Spike interjected. "We can barely lift this off the ground-" he indicated the bulging bag- "much less drag it all the way home."

"Oh, it can't be that heavy!" Rarity said, enveloping the bag in a white aura and beckoning it to rise. The bag didn't budge an inch. Rarity frowned, then put more power into her horn, the light growing brighter as Rarity's face contorted in frustration as she tilted her head back.

Finally, Rarity gasped and the light dissipated, the bag stubbornly remaining in place. Rarity glared at it for a moment before recognizing that it was an inanimate object, and thus immune to glares.

"Ugh, now what are we to do?" Rarity moaned. "I can't just leave it here! Diamond dogs, or maybe other worse creatures, could take it!"

"Well maybe we could-"

"I'm sorry Spike, but you _must_ give a lady a little time to think!" said Rarity sharply.

"But-"

"Ah-ah-ah! No buts! I need quiet!"

Spike sighed. If anypony else had done that, he would've just kept going. But fair Rarity didn't deserve that, and so he sat in silence.

After a minute of Rarity's anxious pacing, she had come up with absolutely no decent ideas. Her nerves were beginning to fray, just as her beautifully sculpted mane began to as well. Spike swore he could hear an audible 'twang' every few seconds.

Rarity huffed and sat down, clearly frustrated. Spike cautiously approached the angry mare (Cautiously because Spike knew how angry mares could get angrier. He lived with one that goes insane after a checklist goes missing) and spoke.

"You know….we could just ask the ponies over there to help…"

Rarity glanced up surprised as she looked around. "But there's nopony here!"

She felt a light tap on her shoulder. "Um, hello?" said a male voice. She turned quickly as a male unicorn and white pegasus stared back.

Rarity swooned (And not in the romantic way, mind you!) and fell.

The other three simply looked at her curiously. Finally, the white pegasus spoke up.

"Um….was that couch always there?"

* * *

><p>Sunlight crept through the corners of her vision. With an irritable sigh, the white unicorn pulled herself up.<p>

She rubbed her hooves to her eyes, clearing her grainy vision. A brown blur seemed to be all she could see at the moment.

"Hello there!" the brown blur exclaimed.

"Aiee!" squealed Rarity as she leapt backwards.

The colt stepped forward with concern. "No, I'm not trying to do anything miss. My name is Brock," he said, extending a hoof out. Rarity looked apprehensively before returning it. She had a feeling of unease for some reason.

"Why do I feel nervous? They're just regular ponies, probably out for a walk," thought Rarity.

"-and this is my friend Misty," Brock finished, gesturing towards the orange-haired pegasus.

Rarity stopped and froze for a bit, her eyes seemingly looking at Misty. Misty began feeling rather uncomfortable from all the attention as she began to scoot behind Brock. Finally, Rarity burst out with excitement.

"My dear, you would be the perfect model for my new fall line!" she said in delight. "Your mane would work wonderfully with the colors!"

"Oh no, I'm not interested in modeling," Misty replied stoically.

Rarity gasped. "What? How can you not be! You seem to have the perfect physique for one, and a rather nice color set!"

Misty shrugged. "My sisters were more into that kind of stuff than I was. I'll pass."

"But-"

"No."

"Please-"

"Nope."

The unicorn put on her biggest pout possible and looked at Misty. "Please?"

Brock chuckled as the unicorn tried in vain to convince Misty to model. He'd been with that girl too long to know when she has her mind set on something.

"Please?"

"Okay fine! Just please stop asking!"

Brock's jaw dropped. Maybe he didn't know Misty as well as he thought.

Misty smacked Brock lightly on the head to pull him back to reality, and posed a question. "Do you normally ask people you just met to model for you?"

"People?" Rarity almost asked, before remembering it was a phrase Ash had used quite often before he'd fixed it. _"She must mean ponies." _

"Well darling, you are an exception! I see no harm in asking."

"Fair enough, Miss…? I realized, you never told us your name!"

"Oh, I'm Rarity!" She gestured towards the purple dragon next to her. "And this is Spike."

"Well, nice to meet you both," said Brock as Misty nodded.

They all sat in silence for a minute before remembering the reason they even began speaking. Or at least Rarity's reason.

"Oh, could you two do me a _huge_ favor?" Rarity asked.

"Depends…" Brock asked. "What kind?"

"Just some lifting. Spike and I couldn't lift the thing, so I needed some help."

"Oh, of course."

He and Misty trotted over to the bag. They both stared at it before realizing something crucial.

They had no idea what they were doing.

* * *

><p>"So…how are we supposed to do this?" Misty asked, looking at the bag. "I mean, I know I have wings, but I can't really fly…"<p>

"You can't fly?" gasped Rarity. "But why not?"

"Well I did just get them half an hou-" Misty began before Brock shushed her. He leaned towards her and whispered, "It might not be a good idea to tell her we're not really ponies or whatever they said."

Misty sagely agreed, and Brock continued. "Let's just say you can't fly because you were born to parents who didn't fly a lot and didn't think you needed to. I think this horn is for some Psychic use or something, so I'll just say there's a Dark inhibitor or something nearby."

Misty said her story, and although Brock knew it was almost as see-through as glass, Rarity bought it. Now the more pressing issue came up at hand. How were they going to move this bag?

"Maybe we could just drag it?" Misty suggested. Brock shrugged, but there didn't seem to be another option. Rarity seemed okay with it too, and Spike went out to find some ropes.

He came back in a few minutes with two long straps. "Hey, are these good? I found them in the clearing over there," he said, pointing a claw towards the direction Brock and Misty had emerged from. "They had Pokeballs on them through, so I threw them off."

Brock's and Misty's minds churned for a second before putting it together.

Clearing.

Straps.

Pokéballs.

Thrown off.

"Oh Arceus, we forgot about the Pokémon!" Brock bellowed in panic, sprinting back through the bush. Misty leapt behind him in due haste as they began searching for their missing Pokémon.

"Did I hear them say Pokémon?" Spike asked. Rarity thought for a moment before agreeing. The two had definitely said Pokémon.

"Do you think they know Ash?" Spike thought out loud. Rarity responded, "Maybe. Let's just see if we can help them find their Pokémon."

His thoughts were jarred as soon as Brock grabbed his shoulders. "Where did you throw those Pokéballs?" Brock thought again. "Wait, if you know about Pokéballs, why would you throw them away in the first place?"

Spike couldn't form a coherent response under all the pressure, so Brock let out a small cry of anguish and called out for his Pokémon. He'd formed his team from his best members, and he didn't want to lose them that easily.

"Forretress! Sudowoodo! Crobat! NInetales! Marshtomp!" His face flushed of color as he remembered his last Pokémon. "Steelix! Don't crush the forest!" he yelled as he galloped off again, looking for the balls or the Pokémon.

Misty meanwhile was having far less trouble, having found two of her Pokéballs still shut.

"Let's see, we have Staryu and Starmie here…who are we missing?" She counted off mentally. "Corsola…Horsea…Politoed…and-"she sighed. "-Psyduck. Of course that idiot would manage to be the only one to let himself out and get lost."

After a long epic trek of twenty minutes, the two of them had found all of their Pokémon except Psyduck and Steelix. They had only found their two empty Pokeballs.

Rarity approached the two. "Shall we go look for them somewhere else?"

"Why are you helping us?" Misty asked. "After all, you did just meet us."

"Well, let's just say I have a soft spot for Pokémon."

"They exist here?" Misty exclaimed. "I mean, really?"

Rarity chuckled. "Dear, I know you're not from Equestria. In fact, we have another one of you already here with his own Pokémon."

"Another Trainer?" Misty wondered aloud. "Wonder who it could be?"

Meanwhile, Brock had dragged the bag to them. "You know, we offered to help with this anyways. Where does this go?"

"I'll bring you there," Rarity said, noticing Brock's harried looks. He wanted to find his way to town to search more, and this was a rather good way to do it.

The three set off to Ponyville, fully intent on finding Pokémon and dropping this Arceus-damned bag.

Spike wandered back into the clearing. "Where'd you guys go…?"

* * *

><p>"YOU KNOW, I THOUGHT YOUR POKÉMON WERE GOING TO BE CUTE!" Rarity screamed as the ground thundered behind her.<p>

"Well you know, jumping on a giant rock Pokémon isn't a good idea for anyone!" Brock yelled back, trying to placate his somehow Steelix-turned-Onix.

They were near a campsite on the edge of a town as Brock tried to show Onix that he was his Trainer.

"Onix! Remember when we battled Ash that very first day and utterly destroyed him? And then his subsequent victory later?"

Onix realized this little pony thing was his master, and lowered himself in apology. Brock laughed and patted his head. "Thanks buddy, I knew you'd figure it out."

After coaxing Rarity out of hiding, he introduced her to Onix, who's manners could easily rival Ash's. Onix actually lifted the small bag of gems up and carried them on his back, much to the relief of the trio.

"Now we only have to find Psy….Psy….Oh come on!"

She was staring in the distance towards the town and noticed multiple things floating in a light blue aura.

Rarity didn't see the problem, since it could be a number of unicorns, but Misty seemed to think it was her Pokémon.

She trotted into town and gazed around for the source. Ignoring the massive amounts of brightly colored ponies, she spotted her duck Pokémon, his eyes blue and arms raised.

"PSYDUCK! YOU PUT THOSE DOWN AND COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" Misty yelled.

"Psy?" the Pokémon said curiously before recognizing his trainer's voice. "Psyduck!" he cried out, waddling towards his master (mistress?). He leapt onto her back and hugged her neck. "Psy…"

Misty couldn't help but feel a pang of love towards him, and nuzzled him gently before returning him to his Pokeball where he belonged. Soon after, Brock and Rarity arrived, huffing from the bag which they had to carry since Onix rumbling into a town wasn't the smartest idea.

"Rarity….can I put this down?"

"Not yet…My boutique…is right there…" Rarity panted, dragging the bag with her magic as Brock pushed it from behind.

"Oh hey Misty, you find Psyduck?" Misty nodded and tapped her Pokéball, which she had strapped around her chest.

"That's cool…Now could you help us out here?"

Finally, they made it to Rarity's boutique (Where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!) and flopped down onto the floor. It had been a hard day, being humans in the morning, turning into ponies, finding their Pokémon, and dragging a freakishly heavy bag.

It was sunset when they had arrived, and noticing her two helpers were tired, Rarity offered her guest bedroom for the two of them.

As she lay in bed, Misty stared out her window at the stars above. "Maybe somewhere, Ash is staring at the same ones…"

Oh, if only she knew.

* * *

><p>And that's it. I'm sorry once again for being the shittiest updater ever.<p> 


End file.
